Name: To Roast a Haunch of Mutton
Ingredients: 1 haunch of mutton (14 to 16 lbs); olive oil; whole pepper; 4 cloves of garlic; a bundle of sweet herbs (parsley, thyme, sweet marjoram); 2 bay leaves; 1 pint of vinegar; slices of raw onion; coarse sea salt

Why it works: Thyme and marjoram match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,225 recipes. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓

To Roast a Haunch of Mutton

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

Cover the fat of the haunch with oiled paper and remove it one hour before cooking.
Dredge the meat lightly with flour and sprinkle it with coarse sea salt.

Roast

Roast the haunch for 3 to 3½ hours at 400°F (200°C).
Hang the haunch for the usual time.
Remove the skin and rub with olive oil.

Marinate

Place the haunch in a pan with whole pepper, garlic, sweet herbs, and bay leaves.
Pour 1 pint of vinegar and 3 to 4 tablespoons of olive oil over the meat.
Cover the meat with slices of raw onion and turn it daily, always placing onion on top.
After 4 days, wipe the meat with a napkin and hang it in a cool place until the next day for roasting.

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.

Thyme + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,225 recipes

Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).
Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,057 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Parsley + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,979 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Clove + marjoramtop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,075 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together34,122 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

What each ingredient does

Mutton haunch: Forms the main cut; its fat bastes the meat while roasting and its connective tissue softens slowly.
Vinegar: Adds acidity that helps tenderise the meat during the multi-day marinade.
Olive oil: Adds fat that carries flavour and helps the surface brown and stay moist.
Garlic: Contributes pungent aroma that penetrates the meat during marinating.
Raw onion: Contributes sharp aroma and flavour to the marinade as it softens and seasons the meat.
Bay leaves: Contribute a subtle herbal aroma to the marinating meat.

The step that matters

Roasting the haunch for 3 to 3½ hours. A large joint heats slowly, so the outside can brown long before the thick centre is cooked. Checking the thickest part with a thermometer shows whether the meat is done rather than relying on the time alone.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, olive, pepper, garlic, parsley, thyme, marjoram):

Rosemaryfits better
Basilfits better
Winter savoryfits better
Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, olive, pepper, garlic, parsley, thyme, marjoram. 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.