Name: Shoulder of Mutton
Ingredients: Shoulder of mutton; Onion sauce

Why it works: Mutton and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,531 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Shoulder of Mutton

Ingredients

Shoulder of mutton
Onion sauce

Directions

Select a shoulder of mutton that is not very fatty.
Roast the mutton according to the method for roasting a leg of mutton.
Serve the roasted mutton with onion 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.

Mutton + oniontop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,531 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Onion + saucetop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together10,474 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Mutton + saucetop 25% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,087 recipes

Shared aroma: decanoic acid (soapy, waxy).

Onion and sauce barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 10,474 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

What each ingredient does

Shoulder of mutton: Provides the meat that becomes the main dish, with its fat content shaping the final juiciness and flavour.
Onion sauce: Adds a sweet, savoury moisture that complements the rich flavour of the roasted meat.