Why it works: Allspice and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Mutton, Rolled Loin Of.
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the meat
Hang the mutton until tender, then bone it.
Sprinkle the meat with pepper, mace, cloves, allspice, and nutmeg, all pounded very fine.
Let it marinate for a day.
Make a forcemeat and cover the meat with it.
Roll the meat and bind it firmly.
Half bake the meat in a slow oven at 300°F (150°C) until it cools.
Stew and finish
Remove the fat from the meat.
Place the gravy in a stewpan.
Dredge the meat with flour.
Add the dredged meat to the gravy.
Stew until perfectly tender.
Remove the meat from the gravy.
Unbind the meat.
Add the port wine and mushroom ketchup to the gravy.
Bring the gravy to a boil.
Pour the boiling gravy over the meat.
Serve with red‑currant jelly.
Optionally, stew mushrooms in the gravy and serve with the dish.
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.
-
Allspice + clovetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,874 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
-
Allspice + nutmegtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,331 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
-
Nutmeg + clovetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,686 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
-
Mace + nutmegtop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,557 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
-
Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together17,451 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Loin of mutton
- Forms the main body of the dish, becoming tender through long slow stewing.
- Forcemeat
- Covers the rolled meat, adding moisture and savoury richness as it cooks.
- Flour (in the method)
- Dredging coats the meat so it browns lightly and thickens the gravy.
- Port wine
- Adds sweetness and depth of flavour to the gravy.
- Mushroom ketchup
- Adds concentrated savoury, umami flavour to the gravy.
The step that matters
Stew until perfectly tender. Mutton loin is tough connective-tissue meat; it only becomes tender after long, gentle simmering. Rushing or boiling hard toughens the muscle fibres and leaves the meat dry and chewy, so it should barely simmer until it yields easily.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, pepper, allspice, nutmeg, clove, port wine, mushroom):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Marjoramfits better
- Thymefits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, pepper, allspice, nutmeg, clove, port wine, mushroom. 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
Mutton Broth292 recipes
Mushroom Soup60 recipes
Haricot Mutton59 recipes
Mutton Soup56 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.