Name: Stuffed Shoulder of Mutton
Ingredients: 2 shoulders of mutton; bread dressing (from recipe No. 942 or No. 1000); salt; cayenne pepper

Why it works: Mutton and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,488 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Stuffed Shoulder of Mutton

Ingredients

2 shoulders of mutton
bread dressing (from recipe No. 942 or No. 1000)
salt
cayenne pepper

Directions

Remove the bones from the shoulders of mutton, starting at the shank end and cutting close to the blade bone.
Lay pieces from the thick parts over the thin areas.
Prepare the bread dressing with either sweet herbs or sage.
Spread the dressing over the meat.
Roll the shoulder with the shank end inside for better slicing.

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.

Mutton + breadtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,488 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Mutton + peppertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together5,442 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,964 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).