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Curry of Mutton

A baked mutton curry with rice, flavored with curry powder and butter, served in a dish.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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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 ↓

Curry 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 the rice

  1. Wash the rice.

  2. Add the rice to boiling water and let it boil for 35 minutes.

  3. Drain the rice in a colander.

Make the curry

  1. In a frying pan, melt the butter.

  2. Add the flour and stir until smooth.

  3. Gradually add ½ cup of boiling water and let it boil once.

  4. Add the mutton, curry powder, and salt; stir for 10 minutes.

Assemble and brown

  1. Heap the mixture in the center of a meat dish and arrange the rice around it.

  2. Brush the dish with beaten egg.

  3. Place it in a 400°F (200°C) oven for a few minutes to brown.

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. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Rice + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,645 recipes

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

  3. Rice + flourtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Mutton + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,781 recipes

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

  5. Mutton + ricetop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,019 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 protein and meaty flavour, becoming tender as it simmers in the sauce.
Rice
Forms the starchy base that soaks up the curry and gives the dish bulk.
Flour
Thickens the butter and liquid into a smooth sauce that clings to the meat.
Curry powder
Supplies the spice blend that gives the dish its characteristic aroma and warm flavour.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, carrying the curry flavours through the sauce.
Eggs (in the method)
Beaten egg brushed on the dish helps the surface take on colour as it bakes.

The step that matters

Adding the flour and stirring until smooth. Flour must be cooked briefly in the hot butter and stirred well before liquid goes in, or lumps form and the sauce tastes raw and floury.

“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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