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Kabobs, Mutton

Kabobs of mutton seasoned with bread crumbs, nutmeg, herbs, and spices, then roasted over a fire.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 13,015 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Kabobs, Mutton

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mutton

  1. Remove the skin and fat from the mutton and cut it into steaks.

  2. In a bowl, mix the bread crumbs, grated nutmeg, mixed herbs, salt, pepper, and cayenne.

  3. Beat the egg yolks in a separate bowl.

  4. Dip the mutton steaks into the egg yolks, then coat them in the bread crumb mixture twice.

  5. Reassemble the steaks in their original position and fasten them together with skewers.

Roast and serve

  1. Tie the skewers to a spit and roast over a clear fire for about 1.5 hours.

  2. Baste the kabobs liberally with dripping and the pan juices.

  3. Serve with the brown gravy poured over the mutton.

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 + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

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

  2. Mutton + breadtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,488 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  4. Bread + nutmegtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,997 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Mutton + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together5,442 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Mutton
Forms the main body of the kabobs and provides the meat that is cooked through over the fire.
Egg yolks
Bind the bread crumb coating so it adheres to the steaks and browns during roasting.
Bread crumbs
Form a crisp, golden coating around the steaks as they roast.
Dripping
Adds fat and moisture to the surface, encouraging browning and a richer flavor.
Brown gravy
Adds moisture and savory flavor to the finished mutton.

The step that matters

Coating the steaks in bread crumbs. Egg yolk must coat the meat evenly before the crumbs go on, and the crumbs must be pressed firmly, so the coating stays attached and browns rather than falling off over the fire.

Swap the nutmeg

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

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Nutmegthe original
  3. Marjoramfits about as well
  4. Turmericfits about as well

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