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Mutton Kebobbed

A roasted mutton loin cut into steaks, seasoned, tied on a spit, and served with a ketchup gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 13,015 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Mutton Kebobbed

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mutton

  1. Remove all fat and skin from the loin of mutton and joint it at every bone.

  2. Mix grated nutmeg, salt, pepper, breadcrumbs, and herbs in a bowl.

  3. Dip the mutton steaks into the egg yolks and sprinkle the seasoning mixture over them.

  4. Reassemble the steaks as they were before cutting, tie them together, and secure on a small spit.

Roast and serve

  1. Roast over a hot fire, basting with butter and the meat's juices.

  2. Once cooked, place in a dish and prepare the gravy.

  3. Combine the gravy with ketchup and a teaspoon of flour, boil, and pour over the mutton before serving.

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. Nutmeg + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

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

  2. Nutmeg + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together24,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

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

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

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

  5. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Mutton loin
Forms the main body of the dish and gives the savory meat flavor.
Egg yolks
Bind the seasoning mixture to the meat so it adheres during roasting.
Breadcrumbs
Absorb moisture and help form a crisp, golden crust on the surface.
Butter
Adds richness and promotes browning as it bastes the meat while roasting.

The step that matters

Roast over a hot fire, basting with butter and the meat's juices. Constant basting keeps the surface moist while the outside browns. Without it, the thin coating can dry out and scorch before the interior is cooked.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, pepper, egg, butter, ketchup):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Nutmegthe original
  3. Capersfits about as well
  4. Celeryfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, pepper, egg, butter, ketchup. 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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