Why it works: Parsley and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 23% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,693 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Boiled Mutton
Ingredients
Directions
Boil the mutton
Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add a generous amount of coarse sea salt.
Add the fresh mutton to the boiling water.
Boil the mutton for 15 minutes per pound until thoroughly cooked.
Serve
Serve with caper sauce either in a sauce-boat or poured over the mutton.
Garnish with parsley.
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.
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Parsley + saucetop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,693 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Mutton + parsleytop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,915 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Mutton + saucetop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,087 recipes
Shared aroma: decanoic acid (soapy, waxy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Fresh mutton
- Provides the main meat, which becomes tender and fully cooked during long simmering in water.
- Caper sauce
- Adds a sharp, acidic note that contrasts with the rich, mild flavour of the boiled meat.
The step that matters
Boil the mutton until thoroughly cooked. Boiling for the full time per pound gives collagen in the meat time to break down, making it tender. Pulling it early can leave it tough and underdone in the centre, which is a food safety concern.
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, sauce):
- Capersfits better
- Pepperfits better
- Gingerfits about as well
- Parsleythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, sauce. 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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