Why it works: Clove and garlic are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,368 recipes. Both carry linalool, which smells floral, citrus. The science ↓
Roast Leg of Mutton
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Hang the leg of mutton in a cool place for up to 6 weeks in winter, or until it stays sweet.
Using a rolling pin, beat the leg all over until it feels tender.
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Place the leg in a baking pan with the knuckle turned up; skewer if necessary.
Rub the leg all over with flour and insert the garlic into the hock-end if desired.
Dot the top with drippings or butter and add a large lump in the pan.
Roast
Roast in the oven for about 20 minutes until it begins to brown.
If browned sufficiently, reduce the heat but do not cool the oven too much.
Baste frequently and add a little boiling water (about ½ cup) to the pan if needed.
Cook for 10 minutes per pound, totaling about 1 hour and 40 minutes for a 10-pound leg.
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.
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Clove + garlictop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,368 recipes
Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + garlictop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,149 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + clovetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,671 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Mutton + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,781 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Mutton leg
- Provides the main meat, which becomes tender and juicy when slowly roasted.
- Flour
- Rubbed on the surface, it helps the outside brown and form a crust.
- Drippings or butter
- Fat on the surface that promotes browning and adds richness and flavor.
- Garlic
- Inserted into the meat to add aroma and savory flavor during roasting.
The step that matters
Reduce the heat after browning. Starting hot browns the surface, but continued high heat dries and toughens the meat. Lowering the heat lets the interior cook gently and stay juicy, so the oven should not be cooled too far.
Swap the clove
The recipe marks clove as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, flour, garlic, butter):
- Capersfits better
- Parsleyfits better
- Turmericfits better
- Clovethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, flour, garlic, 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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