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Mutton Sausages

A savory sausage made from minced mutton, beef suet, anchovies, oysters, and spices, fried before serving.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Mace and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,557 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Mutton Sausages

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. Chop the mutton extremely small.

  2. Season the mutton with salt, pepper, mace, and nutmeg.

  3. Add the beef suet, sweet herbs, anchovies, and oysters, all chopped very small.

Form and cook

  1. Mix in the grated bread, anchovy liquor, and beaten eggs.

  2. Form the mixture into sausages and fry 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. Mace + nutmegtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,557 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

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

  3. Oyster + anchovytop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together603 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

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

  5. Mutton + beeftop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,373 recipes

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

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 flavour and the bulk of the sausage filling.
Beef suet
Adds fat, which keeps the sausages moist and rich while frying.
Oysters
Contribute a briny, savoury flavour and moisture to the filling.
Grated bread
Absorbs liquid and helps the filling hold together in shape.
Eggs
Bind the mixture so the sausages set firmly when cooked.

The step that matters

Chopping the mutton and suet very small. Fine chopping gives an even texture and helps the sausages bind together. Coarse pieces can fall apart or cook unevenly in the pan.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, beef, pepper, nutmeg, oyster, bread, anchovy):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Marjoramfits better
  3. Celeryfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, beef, pepper, nutmeg, oyster, bread, anchovy. 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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