Why it works: Turnip and carrot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,002 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
Leg Oe Mutton
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Remove the shank bone from the leg of mutton.
Soak the joint in warm water (about the temperature of new milk) for 5 minutes, then wipe it clean.
Boil and simmer
Place the mutton in a pot and cover it with warm water.
Set the pot over low heat and allow it to come to a boil slowly, about 40 minutes.
Skim off any scum that rises as it boils.
Cover the pot and let it simmer gently for about 2.5 hours.
Serve
Garnish the dish with turnips cut in half or slices, and serve with mashed turnips, carrots, and potatoes.
Always serve caper sauce with boiled leg of mutton.
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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Turnip + carrottop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,002 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Carrot + potatotop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,107 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
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Turnip + potatotop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together562 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Mutton + carrottop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,878 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Mutton + potatotop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together293 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
- Leg of mutton
- Is the main cut of meat that is slowly cooked until tender.
- Turnips
- Add mild sweetness and a soft texture when served as garnish and mash.
- Carrots
- Add gentle sweetness and color to the mashed accompaniment.
- Potatoes
- Provide starch and a soft, filling texture in the mashed accompaniment.
The step that matters
Bring the pot to a boil slowly over low heat and skim the scum. Heating gently lets the meat cook evenly and stay tender, while skimming removes the foam that rises as it boils so the broth stays clean and the meat is not tough from rapid boiling.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, turnip, carrot, sauce):
- Leekfits better
- Parsnipfits better
- Shallotfits better
- Potatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, turnip, carrot, sauce. 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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