Name: Mutton, Spiced
Ingredients: 1 boned leg or shoulder of mutton; ½ cup common salt; 1 oz. coarse sea salt (formerly 'bay salt'); ½ teaspoon saltpetre; ½ cup moist sugar; 1 teaspoon pepper; 2 teaspoons finely-chopped shallot or onion; ¼ teaspoon powdered allspice; ¼ teaspoon powdered cloves

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, Spiced

Ingredients

1 boned leg or shoulder of mutton
½ cup common salt
1 oz. coarse sea salt (formerly 'bay salt')
½ teaspoon saltpetre
½ cup moist sugar
1 teaspoon pepper
2 teaspoons finely-chopped shallot or onion
¼ teaspoon powdered allspice
¼ teaspoon powdered cloves

Directions

Cure the meat

Mix all ingredients together.
Rub the mixture well into the meat and repeat daily for 14 days.

Cook and serve

When ready, rinse the meat in warm water and bind it into a good shape with strong tape.
Cook gently for 5 to 6 hours in good stock or water flavored with vegetables.
Press between 2 dishes until cold, glaze, and use as required.

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.

Allspice + clovetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together7,874 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together17,451 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Pepper + allspicetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,395 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Shallot + clovetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,677 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Shallot + allspicetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together386 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Common salt: Draws moisture out of the meat and seasons it during the cure.
Moist sugar: Balances the salt and adds sweetness and a softer flavor to the meat.
Saltpetre: Helps the meat keep its pink color during curing.
Coarse sea salt: Adds salt and texture to the cure rub.

Swap the shallot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, sugar, pepper, allspice, clove):

Carrotfits better
Capsicumfits better
Mustardfits about as well
Shallotthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, sugar, pepper, allspice, clove. 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.