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Roast Shoulder of Mutton

A roast shoulder of mutton cooked over a bright fire, basted with flour and salt, served with onion sauce or stewed Spanish onions.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Isabella Beeton · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 26 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Roast Shoulder of Mutton

6 persons

Ingredients

Directions

Roast

  1. Put the joint down to a bright, clear fire; flour it well, and keep continually basting.

  2. About 1/4 hour before serving, draw it near the fire so the outside acquires a nice brown colour, but not so near as to blacken the fat.

  3. Sprinkle a little fine salt over the meat.

  4. Empty the dripping-pan of its contents, pour in a little boiling water slightly salted, and strain this over the joint.

Serve

  1. Serve with onion sauce or stewed Spanish onions, and sometimes baked potatoes.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

827Calories
33 gProtein
19 gFat
132 gCarbs

Counts 13 of 14 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 13 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Bacon1 slice cooked (8g)43
Carrot1 medium (61g)25
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Thyme1 tsp dried (1.4g)4
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Isabella Beeton. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Thyme + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Lemon + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Lemon + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,973 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  5. Thyme + clovetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,108 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Flour
Forms a coating on the outside of the joint that helps it brown during roasting.
Bacon
Adds fat to the pan that bastes the joint and adds savoury flavour.
Lemon-juice
Adds acidity that brightens the flavour of the rich meat.

The step that matters

Draw the joint near the fire at the end. Browning comes from direct heat on the surface, but too close a fire blackens the fat before the meat is cooked through, leaving a bitter, burnt crust.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lemon, thyme, flour, pepper, milk, parsley, clove):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Carrotfits better
  3. Parsnipfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lemon, thyme, flour, pepper, milk, parsley, clove. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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