Skip to main content
Main

Mutton Sausages

A sausage made from finely chopped mutton, suet, herbs, anchovies, oysters, bread, and eggs, then fried.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

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

Make the mixture

  1. Chop the mutton extremely small and season with pepper, salt, mace, and nutmeg.

  2. Add beef suet, sweet herbs, anchovies, oysters, grated bread, anchovy liquor, and beaten eggs.

  3. Mix all ingredients well and shape into balls or sausage shapes.

Fry

  1. Fry the shaped sausages until golden brown.

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. Pepper + beeftop 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
Forms the main body of the sausage and gives it its meaty texture.
Beef suet
Adds fat that keeps the sausage moist and rich as it cooks.
Grated bread
Absorbs liquid and helps the mixture hold together in shape.
Eggs
Bind the mixture so the shaped sausages hold their form.
Oysters
Contribute a savoury, briny flavour and some moisture to the filling.
Anchovies
Add a deep, salty savoury note that enriches the overall flavour.

The step that matters

Shaping before frying. The mixture is soft and held together mainly by beaten egg and bread. Shape it firmly and let it chill briefly so it holds together in the pan and browns evenly instead of breaking apart.

Swap the mace

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

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

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

You might also like

Beef, Mutton, or Veal BrothBeef, Mutton, or Veal Broth6 recipesBrown BreadBrown Bread461 recipesMutton BrothMutton Broth292 recipesRoast BeefRoast Beef211 recipes