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To Roast a Haunch of Mutton

A roasted haunch of mutton served with Espagnole sauce or plain mutton gravy and currant jelly.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,078 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

To Roast a Haunch of Mutton

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Ensure the haunch of mutton is well-kept and properly hung by the butcher if necessary.

Roast

  1. Roast the mutton at a large fire, keeping it at a distance for at least 2 hours.

  2. Move the haunch closer to the fire, but avoid burning the fat.

  3. Baste the meat constantly and dust it with flour soon after placing it on the fire.

  4. Roast for 3.5 to 4 hours, adjusting time if not kept back initially.

Serve

  1. Serve with Espagnole sauce or plain mutton gravy and currant 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.

  1. Flour + saucetop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,078 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Mutton + saucetop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,087 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanoic acid (soapy, waxy).

  3. Flour + curranttop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,077 recipes
  4. Mutton + curranttop 27% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together393 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  5. Mutton + flourtop 29% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,695 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanal (grass, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Haunch of mutton
Is the main cut, whose fat and lean meat set the flavour and juiciness of the dish.
Flour
Dusted onto the meat, it helps form a browned crust on the surface.
Espagnole sauce or plain mutton gravy
Adds moisture and savoury depth to the sliced meat when served.
Currant jelly
Adds sweetness and acidity that cut through the richness of the roasted mutton.

The step that matters

Roasting at a large fire, then moving closer. Starting at a distance lets the thick joint cook through gently, while moving it closer later browns the outside. Too close too early risks scorching the fat before the centre is done.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, flour, sauce):

  1. Raisinfits better
  2. Limefits better
  3. Coconutfits better
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, flour, sauce. 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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