Name: Enrico of a Neck of Mutton
Ingredients: 2 lbs neck of mutton, cut into chops; 2 quarts water; 1 large carrot, sliced; 2 turnips, diced; 1 head celery, white part only; 2 cabbage lettuces, fried; a few heads of asparagus; ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

Why it works: Mutton and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and 5,442 recipes mention both. Both carry ethyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells fruity, apple. The science ↓

The recipe

Ingredients

Directions

Brown the mutton

Flatten the mutton chops and fry them until light brown.

Simmer and serve

Place the chops in a large saucepan with water and carrot.
Stew for 15 minutes.
Add turnips, celery, fried lettuce, and asparagus.
Season with cayenne pepper.
Boil until tender.
Serve in a tureen or soup dish without thickening the gravy.

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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

Mutton + peppertop 7% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together5,442 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together10,172 recipes

Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Carrot + turniptop 2% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together8,001 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Turnip + cabbagetop 3% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together897 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Turnip + lettucetop 3% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together526 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

What each ingredient does

Neck of mutton: Browned meat and fat add savory depth and richness to the broth.
Carrot: Softens as it cooks, adding gentle sweetness and body to the broth.
Turnips: Turn tender while simmering, adding mild sweetness and texture.
Celery: Contributes a fresh, aromatic savory note to the soup.

The step that matters

Boil until tender. A hard, rolling boil toughens meat and clouds the broth. A gentle simmer keeps the mutton tender and the soup clear.

Flavor stand-ins for the asparagus

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, carrot, turnip, celery, cabbage, lettuce, pepper):

Leekbetter flavor fit
Parsnipbetter flavor fit
Broccolibetter flavor fit
Asparagusthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, carrot, turnip, celery, cabbage, lettuce, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“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.