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Mutton Sausage

A sausage made from minced mutton, suet, herbs, anchovies, oysters, bread, anchovy liquor, and eggs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Mace and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,557 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Mutton Sausage

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mixture

  1. Chop the mutton extremely small.

  2. Season the mutton with pepper, salt, mace, and nutmeg.

  3. Add the beef suet, sweet herbs, anchovies, oysters, grated bread, anchovy liquor, and beaten eggs. Mix all ingredients well.

Shape and fry

  1. Shape the mixture into sausage-shaped balls.

  2. Fry the balls in a pan until golden brown.

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. Mace + nutmegtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,557 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

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

  3. Oyster + anchovytop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together603 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Pepper + beeftop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

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

  5. Mutton + beeftop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,373 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
Provides the meaty base and savoury body of the sausage.
Beef suet
Adds fat that keeps the mixture moist and juicy as it cooks.
Eggs
Bind the mixture together so the balls hold their shape.
Grated bread
Absorbs moisture and lightens the texture of the mixture.
Oysters
Contribute moisture and a briny, savoury flavour.

The step that matters

Fry the balls in a pan until golden brown. Frying over steady heat browns the outside through the Maillard reaction, building flavour and a crisp surface, while the interior must cook through fully; too much heat can scorch the outside before the centre is done.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, pepper, nutmeg, beef, oyster, bread, anchovy):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Marjoramfits better
  3. Celeryfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, pepper, nutmeg, beef, oyster, bread, anchovy. 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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