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Braised Leg of Mutton

A leg of mutton braised slowly in a saucepan with bacon or ham, vegetables, spices, stock and lemon juice.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,173 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Braised Leg of Mutton

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Preheat your oven to 300°F (150°C) if using.

  2. Trim the leg of mutton and cut off the shank.

  3. In a large saucepan, layer rashers of ham or bacon at the bottom. Place the leg of mutton on top.

  4. Surround the leg of mutton with the trimmings, shank, and any odd pieces of bacon.

  5. Insert 2 cloves into 1 onion.

Braise

  1. Add the clove-studded onion along with the carrots, leeks, white pepper, mace, allspice, and bouquet garni.

  2. Pour in 1½ pints of stock.

  3. Squeeze in the lemon juice.

  4. Cover and simmer for 5 hours. Shake occasionally.

  5. If using an oven, place the saucepan inside.

Serve

  1. When ready, strain the liquid over the meat.

  2. Serve.

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. Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Carrot + leektop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,310 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Leek + celerytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,093 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Onion + leektop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,326 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl butyrate (apple, fruity).

  5. Carrot + allspicetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,021 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Leg of mutton
Is the main meat that becomes tender and rich during the long, gentle braise.
Stock
Provides the liquid that gently cooks the meat and forms the base of the sauce.
Carrots
Add sweetness and body to the braising liquid as they soften over the long cook.
Leeks
Contribute a mild onion-like flavour that deepens slowly during the simmer.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the rich flavour of the meat and braising liquid.

The step that matters

Simmer gently for 5 hours. Keeping the liquid at a low, gentle simmer breaks down the tough connective tissue in the mutton slowly, making it tender. A hard boil toughens and dries the meat's outer fibres and can cloud the liquid.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, carrot, onion, leek, mace, allspice, celery):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Marjoramfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, carrot, onion, leek, mace, allspice, celery. 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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