Why it works: Clove and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,451 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓
Leg of Mutton a LA Haut Gout
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Hang the leg of mutton for two weeks in a cool place.
Stuff the mutton with cloves of garlic and rub it with pepper and coarse sea salt.
Roast and serve
Roast the mutton until properly cooked.
Serve with good gravy and red wine in the dish.
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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Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together17,451 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Garlic + peppertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,090 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
-
Clove + red winetop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together849 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Clove + garlictop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,368 recipes
Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
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Pepper + red winetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,075 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Leg of mutton
- The main protein; roasting browns its surface and sets its texture, while hanging deepens its flavor.
- Cloves of garlic
- Adds aroma and savory flavor that spreads through the meat as it roasts.
The step that matters
Roasting until properly cooked. A large cut of meat can be underdone at the centre or dry at the edges. Checking the internal temperature with a thermometer is more reliable than judging by time or appearance alone.
Swap the garlic
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, clove, pepper, red wine):
- Rosemaryfits better
- Thymefits better
- Allspicefits better
- Garlicthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, clove, pepper, red wine. 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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