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Braised Leg of Mutton

A slow-cooked mutton leg wrapped in bacon and spices, simmered with onions, carrots, and herbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and beans match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,443 recipes. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓

Braised Leg of Mutton

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the mutton

  1. Remove the bone from the leg of mutton as far as the first joint.

  2. Roll strips of bacon in mixed spice and minced savory herbs, then lard the inside of the joint.

  3. Optionally, fill the cavity with highly seasoned forcemeat.

  4. Sew up the meat and place it in a large pot with bacon slices underneath and on top.

Braise

  1. Add onions, carrots, bay leaves, savory herbs, and bits of mutton or veal.

  2. Pour in ¾ pint of gravy.

  3. Stew the meat gently for 4 to 5 hours, keeping embers on top or placing it in a 350°F (175°C) oven.

Glaze and serve

  1. After cooking, strain the gravy and reduce it to a glaze, then brush it over the meat.

  2. Optionally, serve with boiled white beans or a mild ragout of garlic or shallots.

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.

  1. Carrot + beanstop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,443 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  2. Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Onion + beanstop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,242 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Mutton + carrottop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,878 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Mutton + oniontop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,531 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Leg of mutton
Provides the main meat that becomes tender during long, gentle stewing.
Bacon
Adds fat and savory flavor that bastes the meat as it cooks.
Onions
Break down during stewing to add sweetness and body to the gravy.
Carrots
Release sugars during slow cooking, adding sweetness and depth to the braising liquid.
Gravy
Supplies moisture that keeps the meat from drying out during long stewing.

The step that matters

Stew the meat gently for 4 to 5 hours. Low, steady heat lets the tough connective tissue in the mutton break down slowly into gelatin. Boiling or rushing the heat toughens the muscle fibers and dries the meat.

“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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