Why it works: Thyme and winter savory match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 780 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓
Leg of Mutton Boned and Forced
Ingredients
Directions
Lay the mutton joint skin-side down on a clean cloth.
Cut through the skin from the knuckle to the first joint, lifting it from the flesh along the bone.
Cut down to the bone and work the knife around it until you reach the socket.
Remove the flat bone from the large end and loosen the skin around the middle joint.
Draw out the two bones without dividing them.
Prepare the forcemeat by chopping the mutton removed from the bone with bacon, parsley, thyme, winter savory, pepper, mace, salt, nutmeg, and lemon rind or eschalots.
Fill the leg with the forcemeat, sew the skin together, and tie the knuckle tightly to prevent gravy escape.
Replace the flat bone at the large end.
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.
-
Thyme + winter savorytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together780 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
-
Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,057 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
-
Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,037 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
-
Winter savory + nutmegtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together406 recipes
Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
-
Thyme + lemontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,973 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, parsley, thyme, winter savory, pepper, nutmeg, lemon):
- Marjoramfits better
- Sagefits better
- Allspicefits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, parsley, thyme, winter savory, pepper, nutmeg, lemon. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
More stuffed leg of mutton recipes
You might also like
The 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.
Mutton Broth292 recipes
Lemon Sauce236 recipes
Haricot Mutton59 recipes
Mutton Soup56 recipes