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Haunch of Mutton

A roasted haunch of mutton prepared by washing, seasoning, and basting with milk, water, and its own drippings, served with currant jelly.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,800 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Haunch of Mutton

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the meat

  1. Hang the haunch of mutton in a cool place, washing it daily with vinegar and drying it thoroughly.

  2. If the weather is muggy, rub sugar on the meat to prevent souring; if warm, rub with pepper and ground ginger to keep flies away.

  3. When ready to roast, cover the fat with paper and start roasting at a distance from the fire.

Roast and baste

  1. Baste with a mixture of milk and water until the meat begins to drip.

  2. Change the dish and baste with the meat's own drippings.

  3. Half an hour before it's done, remove the paper from the fat and move the meat closer to the fire.

  4. Baste well and serve with currant jelly.

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. Pepper + gingertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,800 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Vinegar + curranttop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together693 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).

  3. Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Mutton + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together5,442 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

What each ingredient does

Haunch of mutton
Is the main cut of meat that is roasted and served.
Vinegar
Washes the meat during hanging, helping to keep its surface clean.
Milk and water
Basting liquid that moistens the surface while the meat begins to roast.
Currant jelly
Served alongside the roast as a sweet, tart accompaniment.

The step that matters

Covering the fat with paper at the start of roasting. Starting at a distance from the fire with the fat covered lets the meat cook through gently, so the paper is removed later to crisp and brown the fat once the meat is nearly done.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, vinegar, sugar, pepper, ginger, milk):

  1. Lemonfits better
  2. Mangofits better
  3. Cherryfits better
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, vinegar, sugar, pepper, ginger, milk. 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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