Why it works: Ketchup and sauce match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,099 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
To Bake Mutton
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Prepare the mutton by placing it under Yorkshire pudding or boiled rice with curry.
Insert a piece of pudding paste halfway up the knuckle of the leg to prevent it from drying out.
If the mutton is lean, butter it and cover with paste before baking.
Bake
Bake according to the size of the mutton until cooked through.
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.
-
Ketchup + saucetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,099 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together15,338 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Butter + ricetop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,645 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
-
Mutton + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,781 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
-
Mutton + ricetop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,019 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Butter and sauce barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Mutton leg
- Forms the main joint of meat that cooks through during baking.
- Melted butter
- Adds fat and moisture to lean meat, helping it stay juicy.
- Pudding paste
- Covers the meat to help prevent it from drying out in the oven.
- Ketchup
- Adds sweetness and tomato acidity to the flavour of the meat.
- Harvey's sauce
- Adds a tangy, savoury flavour to the meat.
The step that matters
Bake until cooked through, timed to the size of the mutton. A large joint takes much longer to heat through at the centre than a small one. Judging time by size and checking that the thickest part is fully cooked prevents underdone meat, while the paste and butter help keep the outside from drying.
“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.
More baked mutton recipes
You might also like
Mutton Broth292 recipes
Rice Fritters84 recipes
Haricot Mutton59 recipes
Mutton Soup56 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.