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Neck of Mutton

A roasted mutton neck seasoned and basted with vegetables.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Mutton and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 29% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,695 recipes. Both carry hexanal, which smells grass, green. The science ↓

Neck of Mutton

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Dress the neck of mutton slowly for about an hour.

  2. Prepare vegetables as you would for loin.

Roast and baste

  1. Hang the mutton a foot from the fire initially.

  2. Gradually move the mutton closer to the fire.

  3. Baste the mutton well to achieve a rich brown color without burning.

  4. Baste every 10 to 15 minutes to keep the surface tender.

Protect and finish

  1. Skewer a piece of well-greased parchment over the mutton to retain stuffing and prevent burning.

  2. Dredge lightly with flour after the first hour.

  3. Dredge lightly with flour again when turning.

  4. Dredge lightly with flour once more half an hour before done.

  5. Add a little salt at the last dredging.

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.

  1. Mutton + flourtop 29% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,695 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanal (grass, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Mutton
Provides the main meat; its fat and connective tissue keep the roast moist as it cooks slowly.
Flour
Forms a light coating that helps the surface brown and seals in juices.

The step that matters

Gradually move the mutton closer to the fire.. Starting far from the heat lets the thick joint cook through gently. Moving closer later drives browning at the surface. Too much heat early would scorch the outside before the centre is cooked.

“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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