Why it works: Mutton and sugar work together. They rank in the top 34% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 726 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Mutton Ham
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Cut the hind quarter of mutton into the shape of a ham and hang it for 2-3 days.
Cure
Mix the coarse salt, saltpetre, common salt, and coarse sugar, then heat the mixture.
Rub the mixture well into the meat, turning it in the liquid every day.
After 4 days, add 2 ounces more of common salt.
Let it remain in the brine for 12 days, then take it out and dry it.
Smoke
Hang it in wood smoke for 1 week.
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.
-
Mutton + sugartop 34% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together726 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Mutton
- The main meat, which firms and takes on salt and smoke flavour as it cures.
- Coarse salt
- Draws moisture out of the meat and seasons it, slowing spoilage during curing.
- Common salt
- Penetrates the meat over days, seasoning it and helping preserve it.
- Saltpetre
- A curing agent that helps preserve the meat and sets a firm, rosy colour.
- Coarse sugar
- Balances the saltiness and adds mild sweetness to the cured flavour.
The step that matters
Keeping the meat in the brine for 12 days. Salt moves into a large joint slowly, so the time must be long enough for the centre to cure. Too short leaves the middle uncured, and too long makes the ham overly salty.
“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.
More mutton ham recipes
You might also like
Mutton Broth292 recipes
Haricot Mutton59 recipes
Mutton Soup56 recipes
Curried Mutton9 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.