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Of Mutton

A roast mutton shoulder basted with a sauce of anchovies, port, gravy, mushroom ketchup, walnut ketchup, and cayenne pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,451 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓

Of Mutton

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mutton

  1. Keep the shoulder of mutton as long as possible without spoiling. Half-roast it.

  2. Score the meat on both sides as for broiling.

Make the anchovy sauce and baste

  1. Melt the chopped anchovies in a basting ladle, then add pepper and salt.

  2. Place a clean dish under the roast and baste with the hot sauce made from melted anchovies, port, gravy, mushroom ketchup, walnut ketchup, and cayenne.

  3. Baste constantly until the mutton is done.

Serve

  1. Dish the mutton on a hot plate rubbed with garlic.

  2. Skim the sauce and pour it over the mutton.

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. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  2. Mushroom + garlictop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,700 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  3. Pepper + garlictop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,090 recipes

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

  4. Walnut + clovetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,592 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Clove + garlictop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,368 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

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

What each ingredient does

Shoulder of mutton
Is the main meat, cooked by half-roasting and then basting until done.
Anchovies
Melt into the basting sauce, adding a salty, savoury depth to the meat.
Port
Adds sweetness and body to the basting sauce, helping it brown the meat.
Rich gravy
Gives the sauce liquid and meaty richness so it coats the roast.
Mushroom ketchup
Adds concentrated savoury umami flavour to the sauce.

The step that matters

Baste constantly until the mutton is done. Frequent basting keeps the surface moist and builds a glossy, flavourful glaze as the sauce reduces on the hot meat. Letting the surface dry out lets the outside toughen and the sauce burn.

Swap the walnut

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, pepper, mushroom, ketchup, clove, garlic):

  1. Beansfits better
  2. Chestnutfits about as well
  3. Chickpeafits about as well
  4. Walnutthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, pepper, mushroom, ketchup, clove, garlic. 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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