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Mutton, Roebuck Fashion

A loin of mutton marinated in vinegar, wine and aromatics, then braised and glazed.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,053 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Mutton, Roebuck Fashion

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Remove the fillet, skin, fat, and bones from the mutton.

  2. Marinate the loin in a mixture of vinegar, water, port or claret, carrots, onions, peppercorns, mace, herbs, bay leaves, and salt for 24 hours, turning it halfway.

Braise and serve

  1. Drain the mutton and place it in a braising pan lined with bacon, adding a little of the marinade.

  2. Stew the mutton for 3 hours.

  3. Glaze the meat and serve with gravy, adding walnut ketchup and a glass of claret.

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. Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Vinegar + oniontop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,226 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  5. Carrot + macetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,592 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

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

What each ingredient does

Mutton loin
Forms the main meat, which becomes tender through long, slow stewing.
Vinegar
Acidity in the marinade helps begin breaking down the meat's tough connective tissue.
Port or claret
Adds acidity and wine flavour to the marinade and the braising liquid.
Onions
Release sweetness and aromatic depth into the marinade and braising liquid.
Carrots
Add gentle sweetness and body to the marinade and braising liquid.

The step that matters

Stew the mutton for 3 hours. Long, low-heat braising slowly converts tough collagen into gelatin, which makes the meat tender and moist. Cooking too hot or too briefly leaves it tough and dry.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, vinegar, carrot, onion, parsley):

  1. Celeryfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Garlicfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, vinegar, carrot, onion, parsley. 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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