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Hashed Mutton

A stew of sliced mutton simmered with herbs, onions, and walnut ketchup.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Hashed Mutton

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the stock

  1. Cut the cold shoulder of mutton into slices and break the bones.

  2. Place the bones and trimmings in a stewpan, cover with water, and add the faggot of thyme, parsley, whole pepper, and allspice.

  3. Cover and simmer for 45 minutes.

Make the gravy

  1. Fry the chopped onion in a little butter and flour until brown.

  2. Add the browned onion to the stewpan with the gravy.

  3. Stew gently for 20 minutes, then strain the mixture.

Finish and serve

  1. Return the slices of mutton to the stewpan, pour the strained gravy over them, and add a spoonful of walnut ketchup or preferred sauce.

  2. Season and simmer until the meat is heated through.

  3. Serve.

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. Thyme + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Thyme + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,077 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Parsley + allspicetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,289 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Thyme + peppertop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,585 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

What each ingredient does

Cold shoulder of mutton
Provides the cooked meat, which is gently reheated in the strained gravy.
Butter
Fat that cooks the onion, adding richness and helping it brown.
Flour
Thickens the gravy as it cooks with the browned onion.
Onion
Adds savoury depth and sweetness to the gravy as it browns.
Walnut ketchup or preferred sauce
Adds savoury, umami flavour to the finished gravy.

The step that matters

Frying the onion until brown. Flour and butter cooked to a deep brown add roasted flavour and body to the gravy. Pale or underbrowned onion gives a flat, starchy taste, while overbrowning turns it bitter.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, thyme, parsley, pepper, allspice, butter, flour):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Carrotfits better
  3. Parsnipfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, thyme, parsley, pepper, allspice, butter, flour. 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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