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Steamed Mutton Mince

A dish of finely chopped mutton or lamb steamed with salt, pepper, bay leaf, water, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Mutton and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,442 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

Steamed Mutton Mince

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Remove the flesh from the bone of the mutton or lamb.

  2. Chop the lean meat very fine.

  3. Flavor with coarse sea salt, black pepper, and the green bay leaf.

Steam and serve

  1. Steam the mince in a farina boiler with a few spoonfuls of water for 30 minutes.

  2. When done, add the butter and serve hot.

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

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

  2. Mutton + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,781 recipes

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

  3. Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 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

Mutton or lamb
Provides the main protein, which firms and turns tender as it steams.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, giving the finished mince a smoother mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Steam the mince gently with a little water. Steaming with a small amount of water cooks the fine meat gently, so it stays moist instead of drying out or toughening. Adding the butter only after cooking keeps its flavor fresh.

“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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