Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Boiled Mutton
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare and boil the mutton
Wipe the mutton and remove the fat.
Put the meat into well-salted, boiling water.
Boil for 10 minutes, then skim the surface.
Simmer for 12 minutes for each pound of meat, or until tender.
If desired, boil ¼ cup of rice with the mutton.
Make the gravy
For gravy, add 1 tablespoon of flour moistened with cold water to each cup of boiling water used to cook the mutton.
Add 1 teaspoon of vinegar, ¼ teaspoon of pepper, and ½ teaspoon of salt.
Boil for 5 minutes, stirring until smooth.
Add 1 tablespoon of finely chopped parsley or capers if desired.
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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Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Rice + parsleytop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,762 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Rice + peppertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,379 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Flour + parsleytop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together16,675 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,814 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
- Is the main meat, which becomes tender and flavourful as it simmers slowly in water.
- Flour
- Thickens the cooking liquid into a smooth gravy when boiled with it.
- Vinegar
- Adds a sharp acidity that brightens the rich flavour of the gravy.
The step that matters
Boiling the flour into the gravy. Flour must be mixed smoothly with cold water first, then stirred into boiling liquid and kept boiling. Adding dry flour directly causes lumps, and boiling for a few minutes cooks out the raw starch taste and lets the starch thicken the gravy fully.
Swap the parsley
The recipe marks parsley as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, rice, flour, vinegar, pepper):
- Turmericfits better
- Cardamomfits about as well
- Parsleythe original
- Tarragonfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, rice, flour, vinegar, pepper. 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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