Why it works: Flour and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 50,459 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Boned Leg of Mutton Roasted
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the leg
Remove the bone from a small leg of mutton, preserving the skin if possible, and cut off most of the fat.
Fill the cavity left by the bone with a stuffing made as for fowls, adding a portion of finely minced onion.
Sew the leg closed underneath to keep the stuffing inside.
Bind and tie the leg compactly; place it in a roasting pan, add a cup of hot water, and put it in a moderately hot oven, basting occasionally.
When partly cooked, season with salt and pepper.
Roast and make the gravy
When thoroughly cooked, remove the leg and place it on a warm platter; skim the grease from the top of the drippings, add a cup of water, and thicken with a spoonful of dissolved flour.
Serve
Serve the gravy in a gravy dish, along with a dish of currant jelly.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 3 of 4 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 3 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Black Pepper | 1 tsp ground (2.3g) | 6 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| Water | not in our table | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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.
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Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Mutton leg (in the method)
- Provides the main meat, which becomes tender and juicy as it roasts slowly with moisture.
- Flour
- Thickens the drippings into a smooth gravy as it heats in the liquid.
- Onion (in the method)
- Adds aromatic flavour to the stuffing as it cooks inside the meat.
The step that matters
Bind and tie the leg compactly, then baste in a moderately hot oven. A compact, evenly tied roast cooks at an even rate, so the stuffing heats through without the outside drying out. Occasional basting with the pan liquid keeps the surface moist and helps it brown.
“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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