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Leg of Mutton, Stuffed

A roasted leg of mutton stuffed with a seasoned breadcrumb and onion mixture, served with gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Marjoram and sage match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 507 recipes. Both carry 2-hexenal, which smells green, leafy. The science ↓

Leg of Mutton, Stuffed

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the stuffing

  1. Wash and wipe the mutton.

  2. Grate the bread crumbs and season with salt, pepper, marjoram, sage, and basil.

  3. Chop the onion and sauté in butter for five minutes.

  4. Pour the onion mixture over the bread crumbs and mix thoroughly.

Stuff and roast

  1. Make a deep incision along the long side of the leg and stuff with the dressing.

  2. Skewer the opening, season the leg with salt and pepper, and dust with flour.

  3. Roast in a 400°F (200°C) oven for two hours, basting with water every 15-20 minutes.

Serve

  1. Thicken the gravy with browned flour and serve over the meat with additional gravy on the side.

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. Marjoram + sagetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together507 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  2. Marjoram + basiltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together688 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  3. Sage + basiltop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together223 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  4. Pepper + marjoramtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,609 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Pepper + sagetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,388 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Leg of mutton
Forms the main roast and carries the stuffing as the central dish.
Bread crumbs
Absorb the onion and butter to form a moist, tender stuffing.
Butter
Adds fat and richness to the onion before it goes into the stuffing.
Flour
Dusted on the surface and browned to help thicken the gravy.
Onion
Adds savoury aroma and sweetness when softened in butter.

The step that matters

Basting with water during the roast. Water added every 15-20 minutes replaces moisture lost from the surface as it cooks, helping keep the meat from drying out during the two-hour roast. Frequent basting also keeps the flour crust from burning before the meat is done.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Tomatofits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, bread, pepper, marjoram, sage, basil, butter. 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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