Skip to main content
Main

Haunch of Mutton Roasted

A roasted haunch of mutton seasoned with pepper, ginger, and port wine, served with currant jelly and a port wine sauce.

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

Why it works: Port wine and currant work together. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 356 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Haunch of Mutton Roasted

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

  1. Wash the haunch with vinegar and wipe it dry.

  2. Rub the haunch with pounded pepper and ginger if necessary.

  3. Stick cloves into the knuckle.

  4. Soak the haunch in port wine for 24 hours before roasting, turning it frequently.

  5. Trim the knuckle and cramp-bone, and remove excess skin and fat.

Roast

  1. Cover the fat with oiled paper, removing it one hour before cooking.

  2. Dredge lightly with flour and sprinkle generously with salt.

  3. Roast in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 3 to 3½ hours, longer if needed.

Serve

  1. Serve with currant jelly and a sauce made from port wine, spice, and gravy.

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. Port wine + curranttop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together356 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Mutton + port winetop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together344 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Port wine + flourtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,167 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Port wine + saucetop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together424 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Mutton haunch
Provides the large cut of meat that is roasted and carved for serving.
Port wine
Soaking adds flavour and aroma to the meat and contributes acidity that tenderises its surface.
Flour
A light dusting helps form a browned crust on the outside of the roast.
Currant jelly
Adds sweetness and tartness that balances the rich flavour of the roasted mutton.

The step that matters

Soaking the haunch in port wine. Soaking for a full 24 hours needs turning so every surface is evenly exposed to the wine. Uneven contact leaves patchy flavour and tenderising, so the meat cooks unevenly.

Swap the currant

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

  1. Raisinfits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Red currantfits better
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, port wine, 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.

You might also like

Mutton BrothMutton Broth292 recipesHaricot MuttonHaricot Mutton59 recipesMutton SoupMutton Soup56 recipesCurried MuttonCurried Mutton9 recipes