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Haunch of Mutton Dressed Like Venison

A haunch of mutton marinated in red wine, roasted with butter and gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Haunch of Mutton Dressed Like Venison

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Cut the leg of the mutton like a haunch.

  2. Place it in a pan with the back downwards.

  3. Pour in the red wine and let it soak for 24 hours.

  4. Before roasting, cover the meat with clean paper and paste to preserve the fat.

Roast and serve

  1. Roast it in a 400°F (200°C) oven, basting with butter mixed with the soaking liquid.

  2. Roast for about 3 hours.

  3. Serve with rich gravy and sweet sauce.

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. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Red wine + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,599 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Red wine + peppertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  4. Mutton + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together5,442 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Mutton + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,781 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

What each ingredient does

Mutton
Forms the main body of the roast, becoming tender with long, slow cooking.
Red wine
Soaks into the meat during the long rest, adding flavour and aroma.
Butter
Enriches the basting liquid, adding fat that helps the surface brown and stay moist.

The step that matters

Basting with butter and soaking liquid. Basting spreads fat and liquid over the surface as it roasts, keeping the meat moist and helping the exterior brown. Too little basting can leave the surface dry.

“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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