Why it works: Mutton and turnip are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,558 recipes. Both carry octanal, which smells fat, soap. The science ↓
A Boiled Leg of Mutton, with Tongue and Turnips
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Place the leg of mutton in a large pot and cover with water.
Add salt to taste and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat and simmer until the meat is tender.
Cook the tongue and turnips
In a separate pot, boil the tongue until cooked through.
Peel and chop the turnips, then add them to the pot with the mutton for the last 30 minutes of cooking.
Serve
Serve the mutton with the tongue and turnips.
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 + turniptop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,558 recipes
Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Leg of mutton
- Provides the main meat, which becomes tender as the collagen breaks down during slow simmering.
- Tongue
- Adds rich, fatty meat that becomes tender when boiled until fully cooked.
- Turnips
- Add mild sweetness and a soft texture after cooking in the broth.
The step that matters
Simmer until the meat is tender. Mutton leg is tough muscle with a lot of connective tissue. Gentle simmering at low heat slowly converts collagen into gelatin, making the meat tender. A hard boil can toughen the meat and leave it stringy.
“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.
You might also like
Mutton Broth292 recipes
Haricot Mutton59 recipes
Mutton Soup56 recipes
Turnip Soup43 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.