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Collared Mutton

A rolled mutton breast seasoned, coated with breadcrumbs, and boiled.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Collared Mutton

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Rub the boned mutton breast with the egg yolk.

  2. Season with pepper, salt, nutmeg, lemon peel, parsley, and capers.

  3. Sprinkle bread crumbs over the mixture.

Roll and cook

  1. Roll the mutton tightly and bind it well.

  2. Boil for two hours.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

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

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

  2. Parsley + caperstop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,550 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

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

  4. Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Nutmeg + parsleytop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,062 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Mutton breast
Forms the main body of the roll and carries the flavour of the filling.
Egg yolk
Acts as a binder, helping the seasonings and crumbs stick to the meat.
Bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and help bind the filling so it holds together when rolled.
Capers
Add a sharp, acidic bite that cuts through the richness of the mutton.

The step that matters

Roll the mutton tightly and bind it well. If the roll is loose, the filling can fall out and the meat can cook unevenly. A firm, tight roll holds the stuffing in place and gives the slices a neat, even structure.

Swap the capers

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, egg, pepper, nutmeg, lemon, parsley, bread):

  1. Marjoramfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Winter savoryfits better
  4. Capersthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, egg, pepper, nutmeg, lemon, parsley, bread. 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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