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Stuffed Leg of Mutton

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

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Summer savory and flour match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 263 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. 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, salt, pepper, summer savory, chopped salt pork, and butter.

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

  4. Sprinkle the outside of the mutton with salt and pepper.

Roast

  1. Place the mutton in a roasting pan with a little water.

  2. Roast in a brisk oven at 400°F (200°C).

  3. Once roasting begins, brush the mutton with butter.

  4. Lightly dredge the mutton with flour.

  5. Monitor the roast closely, maintain even heat, and baste thoroughly every 15 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. Summer savory + flourtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together263 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

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

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

Leg of mutton
Forms the main body of the roast and carries the stuffing while it cooks.
Bread crumbs
Absorb juices and fat from the stuffing, keeping it moist and giving it body.
Salt pork
Adds fat and savory flavor that melts into the stuffing and meat during roasting.
Butter
Adds richness and helps the outside brown as it cooks.
Flour
Dredging helps form a light crust that browns and holds in moisture.

The step that matters

Basting every 15 minutes. Repeated basting keeps the surface moist and evens out heat, which helps prevent dry, unevenly cooked meat. Letting the oven temperature drop or the roast dry out will toughen the outer layer and slow the even cooking of the stuffed cavity.

Swap the summer savory

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

  1. Parsleyfits about as well
  2. Sagefits about as well
  3. Summer savorythe original
  4. Marjoramfits about as well

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