Why it works: Parsley and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓
Mutton, Leg of
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Prepare and slice the vegetables.
Place the leg of mutton in a stewpan that can hold it snugly.
Stew
Add enough boiling stock or water to barely cover the meat.
Add the sliced vegetables, bouquet garni, peppercorns, and a little salt.
Simmer very gently for about 1.5 hours.
Finish
If desired, convert the cooking stock into onion sauce.
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.
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Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,057 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Mutton + meattop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together936 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Thyme + meattop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,008 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Parsley + meattop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,040 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Mutton + parsleytop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,915 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Leg of mutton
- Provides the main protein, which becomes tender and flavourful during long gentle simmering.
- Vegetables
- Release sugars and aromatic compounds into the cooking liquid, flavouring the stew and the sauce.
- Stock or water
- Provides the cooking liquid that gently transfers heat to the meat and forms the base of the gravy.
The step that matters
Simmer very gently. A gentle simmer keeps the liquid just below a boil, so the meat's muscle fibres soften slowly without tightening and toughening. Vigorous boiling makes the meat dry and stringy and can cloud the stock.
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, thyme, meat):
- Marjoramfits better
- Rosemaryfits about as well
- Parsleythe original
- Sagefits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, thyme, meat. 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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