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Loin of Mutton Stewed

A stew of mutton loin simmered in water, pyroligneous acid, butter, herbs, onions, and finished with red wine.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 42,912 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓

Loin of Mutton Stewed

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Remove the skin and bones from the mutton.

  2. Roll the mutton.

Stew

  1. Place the mutton in a stewpan with water, pyroligneous acid, butter, sweet herbs, and onions.

  2. Stew for nearly 4 hours.

Finish and serve

  1. Strain the gravy.

  2. Add the red wine and heat.

  3. Serve with jelly 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 + oniontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  2. Butter + red winetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,599 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Onion + red winetop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Water
Provides the liquid that gently cooks the mutton and forms the gravy.
Pyroligneous acid
Adds a smoky flavour and a touch of acidity to the gravy.
Butter
Adds fat and richness to the gravy and its mouthfeel.
Onions
Contribute savoury sweetness and aroma as they soften during stewing.
Red wine
Adds acidity and depth of flavour to the finished gravy.

The step that matters

Stewing the mutton for nearly 4 hours. Long, gentle, moist heat breaks down the tough connective tissue in mutton, turning it tender and enriching the gravy with gelatin. Rushing this stage or boiling it hard leaves the meat tough and the gravy thin.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, red wine):

  1. Tomatofits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Shallotfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, red wine. 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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