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To Ivast a Haunch of Mutton

A roasted haunch of mutton seasoned with pepper, ginger, and soaked in wine, wrapped in paper, and served with gravy and currant jelly.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,800 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

To Ivast a Haunch of Mutton

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wash the haunch with warm milk-and-water or vinegar and wipe it dry.

  2. Soak the haunch in port wine or claret for two days.

  3. Rub the haunch with pepper and ginger.

  4. Remove the skin from the loin.

  5. Saw a few inches from the knuckle.

Roast

  1. Make a paste of coarse meal.

  2. Wrap the haunch in strong cartridge paper.

  3. Place the wrapped haunch far from the fire for two hours.

  4. Gradually move the haunch closer to the fire.

  5. After three hours, remove the paper and paste.

  6. Baste the haunch continuously for 45 minutes.

  7. Wrap the shank in fringed writing-paper.

Serve

  1. Serve the haunch with rich-drawn gravy and currant jelly.

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 + gingertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,800 recipes

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

  2. Port wine + curranttop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together356 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Mutton + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together5,442 recipes

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

  4. Milk + curranttop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together5,475 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).

  5. Mutton + port winetop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together344 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Haunch of mutton
Is the main cut of meat, cooked slowly to become tender and juicy.
Port wine or claret
Soaks into the meat, adding flavour and some moisture to the surface.
Coarse meal
Forms a paste that shields the meat from direct heat during the early roasting.
Rich-drawn gravy
Adds savoury moisture and richness to the sliced meat at serving.
Currant jelly
Adds sweetness and acidity that balance the rich, fatty flavour of the mutton.

The step that matters

Gradually move the haunch closer to the fire. Starting far from the heat lets the thick meat cook through gently before browning. Moving it closer too early can scorch the outside while the centre stays underdone.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, milk, port wine, pepper, ginger):

  1. Figfits better
  2. Lemonfits better
  3. Plumfits better
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, milk, port wine, pepper, ginger. 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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