Name: Roast Mutton
Ingredients: leg of mutton; coarse sea salt; black pepper; brown gravy; stuffed tomatoes; currant jelly or grape jelly

Why it works: Pepper and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,923 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Roast Mutton

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Sprinkle the leg of mutton with coarse sea salt and black pepper.
Place the mutton in a roasting pan without water.
Roast in the hot oven to seal the pores.
Prepare a brown gravy to serve with the mutton.
Serve with stuffed tomatoes and currant or grape jelly.

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.

Pepper + tomatotop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,923 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Mutton + peppertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together5,442 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Mutton + tomatotop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together452 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-nonanal (fatty, waxy).
Mutton + curranttop 27% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together393 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Tomato + curranttop 28% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together122 recipes

Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).