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Leg of Mutton Boned and Forced

A leg of mutton is boned, stuffed with a seasoned bacon and herb mixture, then roasted.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and winter savory match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 780 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Leg of Mutton Boned and Forced

Ingredients

Directions

Bone the leg

  1. Turn the underside of the mutton upwards.

  2. Cut through the skin from the knuckle to the first joint and raise it from the flesh along the bone.

  3. Cut through the flesh down to the bone and work the knife around it until you reach the socket.

  4. Remove the flat bone from the large end of the joint and loosen the skin around the middle joint carefully.

  5. Draw out the two bones without dividing them.

Make and fill

  1. Chop nearly a pound of the inside of the mutton fine with the bacon and mix with parsley, thyme, winter savory, pepper, mace, salt, nutmeg, and lemon rind or eschalots.

  2. Fill the cavities with the prepared forcemeat, adding seasoning of eschalot, garlic, or onion.

Sew and tie

  1. Sew the skin neatly together where it was cut open and tie the knuckle tightly to prevent gravy escape.

  2. Replace the flat bone at the large end and use a long needle and twine to draw the edges of the meat together over it.

Roast

  1. Roast the prepared mutton on a cradle spit or a hanging jack if possible.

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. Thyme + winter savorytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together780 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Winter savory + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together406 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  5. Thyme + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,973 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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 dish and supplies the rich, meaty flavour and substantial texture.
Delicate striped bacon
Adds fat and moisture to the forcemeat, keeping the stuffing from drying out while roasting.
Parsley
Contributes fresh, green aroma that lightens the rich flavour of the meat.
Thyme
Adds a savoury, aromatic note that complements the roasted meat.
Winter savory
Provides a peppery, aromatic flavour that suits rich meats like mutton.

The step that matters

Sewing and tying the skin closed. Any gap in the skin lets the juices and forcemeat escape during roasting, so the meat dries out and the gravy is lost. The seam and knuckle must be sealed firmly before the joint goes on the spit.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, parsley, thyme, winter savory, pepper, nutmeg, lemon):

  1. Marjoramfits better
  2. Sagefits better
  3. Allspicefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, parsley, thyme, winter savory, pepper, nutmeg, lemon. 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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