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Mutton Eagout

A stew of cold cooked mutton, butter, stock, peas, lettuce, salt, and pepper, simmered for over an hour.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Peas and lettuce match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,293 recipes. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓

Mutton Eagout

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a granite or porcelain lined saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat.

  2. Add the stock or water, chopped mutton, mashed peas, shredded lettuce, salt, and pepper.

  3. Cover and cook slowly for 1 hour and 15 minutes.

  4. Serve with boiled rice.

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. Peas + lettucetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,293 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  2. Lettuce + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,037 recipes

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

  3. Peas + peppertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,331 recipes

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

  4. Mutton + peastop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together598 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  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

Cold cooked mutton
Provides the main protein and body of the stew.
Butter
Adds richness and fat that carries flavour through the dish.
French peas
Thicken the liquid slightly as they break down and add sweetness.
Lettuce
Softens as it cooks, adding moisture and a mild, vegetal flavour.

The step that matters

Cooking slowly with the lid on. Gentle, covered simmering keeps the mutton tender and moist, while high heat would toughen the meat and reduce the liquid too quickly.

Swap the lettuce

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

  1. Asparagusfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Leekfits better
  4. Lettucethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, butter, peas, 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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