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Scalloped Mutton

A baked dish of sliced cold leg of mutton layered with a brown sauce, parsley, bread crumbs and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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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 ↓

Scalloped Mutton

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderately hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderately hot oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the sauce

  1. In a stewpan, heat the dripping with the chopped onion until light brown.

  2. Stir in the cornflour, mix well, and moisten with the vegetable stock.

  3. Season with salt and pepper, bring to a boil, then simmer for 10 minutes and strain.

Assemble

  1. Slice the cold leg of mutton, trimming off skin and fat.

  2. Butter a pie dish and layer the meat with sauce and chopped parsley.

  3. Continue layering until the dish is full, finishing with sauce on top.

Bake and serve

  1. Cover with seasoned dry bread crumbs and dot with butter or dripping.

  2. Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven until the crumbs are nicely browned.

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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Cold leg of mutton
Forms the bulk of the dish and provides the main meaty flavour.
Cornflour
Thickens the stock into a smooth sauce that binds the layers together.
Dripping
Adds richness and carries the onion flavour into the sauce.
Vegetable stock
Moistens the thickened base and forms the sauce that keeps the meat tender.
Dry bread crumbs
Form a crisp top that browns in the oven.

The step that matters

Bake until the crumbs are nicely browned. Dry bread crumbs brown through dry heat, and the sauce beneath keeps the meat moist. Stopping too early leaves the top pale and soft, while overbaking can dry the layers beneath.

Swap the onion

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

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

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