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Rolled Mutton

A roasted shoulder of mutton rolled in its skin with spices, herbs, and onion, served with a gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,686 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Rolled Mutton

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the mutton

  1. Carefully bone the shoulder of mutton without injuring the skin.

  2. Mince the mutton and season it with pepper, salt, nutmeg, cloves, mint, parsley, lemon juice, and pounded onion.

  3. Mix everything together with the beaten egg yolk.

  4. Roll the mixture tightly in the skin and tie it securely.

Bake and make the gravy

  1. Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 2 to 3 hours, depending on the size of the mutton.

  2. Make gravy with the bones and trimmings, seasoning with onion, pepper, and salt.

  3. Strain the gravy and thicken it with flour and butter.

  4. Add vinegar or tomato sauce to the gravy and pour over the mutton when serving.

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. Nutmeg + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

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

  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 shoulder
Provides the main meat, which is rolled and baked to become tender and juicy.
Egg yolk
Binds the minced mixture so it holds together when rolled and baked.
Flour and butter
Thicken the strained gravy so it coats the meat smoothly.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the rich, savoury meat.
Onion
Adds savoury depth and aroma to the stuffing and the gravy.

The step that matters

Rolling and tying the mutton. If the roll is loose or the skin is torn, the filling can fall out and dry the meat unevenly during baking. Rolling it tightly and tying it securely keeps the filling compact and moist.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Shallotfits better
  3. Spinachfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, pepper, nutmeg, clove, mint, parsley, lemon. 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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