Why it works: Mutton and sugar work together. They rank in the top 34% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 726 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Mutton
Ingredients
Directions
Cure the meat
Rub the mutton with sugar, salt, and saltpetre.
Place the meat in a deep dish and turn it twice a day for three days.
Remove any scum, wipe the meat, and rub it again with the mixture.
Continue rubbing and turning the meat for 8 to 10 days.
Smoke or dip
Expose the meat to smoke for 10 to 12 days or dip it in pyroligneous acid.
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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Mutton + sugartop 34% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together726 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Mutton
- The main meat that is cured, firmed and preserved by the salt mixture.
- Salt
- Draws out moisture and slows spoilage, firming the meat as it cures.
- Sugar
- Softens the harshness of the salt and adds a mild sweetness to the meat.
- Saltpetre
- Helps the cured meat keep its colour and adds to its preservation.
The step that matters
Continue rubbing and turning the meat for 8 to 10 days. Salt and cure penetrate meat slowly, so regular turning and re-rubbing spreads the mixture evenly. Skipping days can leave uneven curing and spoilage at the thick parts.
“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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