Why it works: Flour and capers match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,024 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Boiled Mutton
Ingredients
Directions
Boil the mutton
Wash the leg of mutton well and place it in boiling salted water.
Boil for 2 to 3 hours, depending on the size.
Make the sauce
For drawn butter, mix flour and butter until well combined.
Gradually pour in boiling water while stirring continuously.
Set on the stove and stir until it just comes to a boil.
For caper sauce, add capers just before serving.
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.
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Flour + caperstop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,024 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Capers + saucetop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together678 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together15,338 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Butter + caperstop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,637 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter 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 body of the dish, with its texture set by long gentle boiling.
- Flour
- Thickens the butter and water into a smooth, pourable sauce.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat that carries flavour and gives the drawn butter its smoothness.
- Capers
- Add a sharp, briny acidity that cuts the richness of the sauce.
The step that matters
Stirring the drawn butter as the water goes in. Adding boiling water to a flour and butter paste without constant stirring can form lumps, because starch granules clump before they hydrate evenly. Continuous stirring spreads the starch so the sauce thickens smoothly.
“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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