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 ↓
Mutton with Turnips
Ingredients
Directions
Simmer the mutton gently for 2 to 2.5 hours after it begins to boil.
Boil any undressed bones of veal, mutton, or beef with the joint to improve flavor.
If using, boil the smoked ox-tongue until tender.
Garnish the tongue with well-prepared mashed turnips, shaped like half-eggs, and serve hot.
Serve the mutton with caper, brown cucumber, or oyster sauce.
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.
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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
- Mutton
- Provides the main meat, which becomes tender through long, gentle simmering.
- Mashed turnips
- Serve as a soft, mild garnish that complements the rich meat.
The step that matters
Simmer the mutton gently. Boiling hard toughens the meat's proteins and can make it dry and stringy. A gentle simmer lets the connective tissue break down slowly, giving tender meat.
“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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