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Stuffed Leg of Mutton

A roasted leg of mutton stuffed with bread crumbs, salt pork, butter, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and summer savory work together. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 671 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Stuffed Leg of Mutton

Oven, in the book's wordsA brisk oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare

  1. Remove the bone from the leg of mutton.

  2. Fill the cavity with stuffing made from bread crumbs, seasoned with salt, pepper, summer savory, chopped salt pork, and butter.

  3. Skewer the ends of the mutton to secure the stuffing.

  4. Sprinkle the mutton with salt and pepper.

  5. Place it in a roasting pan with a little water.

  6. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

Roast

  1. Roast the mutton. When it begins to roast, brush it with butter. Lightly dredge it with flour.

  2. Monitor the roast closely. Maintain an even heat. Baste it thoroughly every fifteen 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.

  1. Pepper + summer savorytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together671 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Mutton + porktop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,239 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-nonanal (fatty, waxy).

  4. Mutton + breadtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,488 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  5. Summer savory + porktop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together239 recipes

    Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).

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

What each ingredient does

Leg of mutton
Provides the main meat, which becomes tender and juicy as it roasts.
Bread crumbs
Form the stuffing that absorbs meat juices and keeps the filling moist.
Salt pork
Adds fat and savory flavor that bastes the stuffing and meat as it renders.
Butter
Adds richness and promotes browning on the surface of the roast.
Flour (in the method)
Dredged on the surface to help form a browned, crisp crust.

The step that matters

Baste it thoroughly every fifteen minutes. Regular basting keeps the surface moist and carries fat and pan juices over the meat, which helps prevent drying and encourages even browning during a long roast.

Swap the summer savory

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

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Sagefits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Summer savorythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, bread, pepper, pork, 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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