Why it works: Currant and red wine work together. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 113 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓
Roast Leg of Mutton
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Roast the leg of mutton for 2 hours.
Halfway through, remove the fat from the roaster and baste the meat with the drippings.
For gravy, follow the method for roast beef or add currant jelly and red wine.
Add 10 minutes of cooking time for each additional pound of mutton.
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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Currant + red winetop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together113 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Mutton + red winetop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together117 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
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Mutton + curranttop 27% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together393 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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, providing the meat that is roasted and basted.
- Currant jelly
- Adds sweetness and a fruity tang to the gravy.
- Red wine
- Adds acidity and depth of flavour to the gravy.
The step that matters
Halfway through, remove the fat and baste the meat. Removing excess fat keeps the drippings from becoming greasy, while basting with the drippings moistens the surface and helps it brown and stay juicy during the long roast.
Swap the currant
The recipe marks currant as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, red wine):
- Plumfits better
- Pearfits better
- Applefits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, red wine. 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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