Why it works: Milk and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
To Dress Haunch of Mutton
Ingredients
Directions
Wash the haunch of mutton with warm milk and water or vinegar if necessary.
Prepare a paste of coarse flour and spread it on strong paper.
Wrap the haunch in the paper and paste.
Place it far from the fire and allow sufficient time for cooking.
Remove the paste about 35 to 40 minutes before serving and baste the meat.
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.
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Mutton + milktop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together814 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
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Mutton + vinegartop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together615 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-methylbutanol (malty, whiskey).
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Vinegar + flourtop 27% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,652 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + vinegartop 28% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,949 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
Milk and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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
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