Name: Browned Mutton Curry
Ingredients: 1 pint finely chopped cold mutton; ½ cup rice; 1 tablespoon butter; 1 egg; 2 tablespoons flour; 2 quarts boiling water; 2 teaspoons curry powder; Salt to taste

Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Browned Mutton Curry

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 the rice

Wash the rice and add it to the boiling water.
Boil for 25 minutes, then drain in a colander.

Make the curry

In a frying pan, melt the butter and stir in the flour until smooth.
Gradually add 2 cups of boiling water, stirring until smooth again.
Once boiling, add the mutton, curry powder, and salt. Stir for 10 minutes.

Bake and serve

Heap the mixture in the center of a fire-proof flat dish and make a border of rice around it.
Brush the entire dish with beaten egg.
Place in the oven at 400°F (200°C) until browned, about 5 to 10 minutes.

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.

Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Rice + buttertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,645 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Rice + flourtop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,611 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Mutton + buttertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,781 recipes

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

Butter and flour 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: Provides the main body and meaty flavour of the curry.
Flour: Thickens the butter and water into a smooth, body-giving sauce.
Egg: Brushed on top, it helps the surface brown and gives a glossy finish.
Butter: Carries the curry powder's flavour and adds richness to the sauce.
Rice: Forms the border around the curry and adds a starchy base.

The step that matters

Brushing with beaten egg before baking. The egg proteins brown and set in the oven, so an even coat is needed for an evenly coloured, glossy crust. Watch the dish closely, since browning happens quickly at high heat.

“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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Browned Mutton Curry