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Stuffed Leg of Mutton

A leg of mutton stuffed with a mixture of bread crumbs, parsley, onion, savory herbs, lemon rind, salt, pepper, and egg, then baked.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Stuffed Leg of Mutton

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Lay the boned leg of mutton flat.

  2. Prepare the forcemeat by mixing bread crumbs, parsley, onion, savory herbs, lemon rind, salt, and pepper.

  3. Dampen the mixture with the beaten egg and spread it on the meat.

  4. Fold the meat together and secure it.

Roast

  1. Place in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) for 15 minutes.

  2. Move to a cooler part of the oven at 300°F (150°C) and cook slowly for 1 hour, basting regularly.

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. Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  3. Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

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

  4. Parsley + oniontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Leg of mutton
Forms the main body of the dish, which is rolled around the stuffing and cooked through.
Bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and bind the forcemeat into a soft, sliceable stuffing.
Egg
Binds the forcemeat together so it holds its shape when the meat is folded.
Onion
Adds savory flavour and aroma to the forcemeat.

The step that matters

Securing the folded meat. If the meat is not folded and secured tightly, the stuffing can leak out during roasting and the joint may cook unevenly. Keeping the roll compact helps it hold its shape and cook through.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, bread, parsley, lemon, pepper, egg):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Carrotfits better
  3. Spinachfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, bread, parsley, lemon, pepper, egg. 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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