Name: Mutton a LA Venison
Ingredients: 1 piece of mutton (about the same weight as a venison joint); ¼ ounce black pepper; ¼ teaspoon ground cloves; ¼ teaspoon allspice; 1 teaspoon ground ginger; 1 teaspoon dried bay leaves; ½ cup red wine; ½ cup vinegar

Why it works: Clove and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Mutton a LA Venison

Ingredients

Directions

Wipe the mutton thoroughly and ensure it is of good quality and freshly killed.
Rub the meat with black pepper, ground cloves, allspice, ground ginger, and dried bay leaves.
Marinate the meat in red wine and vinegar for three days, turning and rubbing it daily.
After three days, wash the meat quickly in warm water and dry it well.
Cook the mutton like venison, serving with the same sauces and accompaniments.

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.

Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together7,874 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Clove + gingertop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,038 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Allspice + gingertop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,620 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together17,451 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Pepper + allspicetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,395 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

Swap the ginger

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, venison, pepper, clove, allspice, red wine, vinegar):

Thymefits better
Rosemaryfits better
Marjoramfits better
Gingerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, venison, pepper, clove, allspice, red wine, vinegar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.