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Mutton Kebobbed

A skewered mutton dish seasoned with parsley, shallot, tarragon, breadcrumbs, spices, and served with lemon pickle and mushroom ketchup.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Shallot and tarragon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 602 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Mutton Kebobbed

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mutton

  1. Remove all fat and excess from the loin of mutton and cut through each joint.

  2. In a bowl, mix parsley, shallot, tarragon, breadcrumbs, nutmeg, salt, and pepper.

  3. Beat the eggs in a separate bowl.

  4. Dip the mutton chops in the beaten eggs, then roll them in the seasoning mixture.

  5. Reassemble the chops as they were before cutting and tie them together on a small spit.

Roast and serve

  1. Roast the chops over a hot fire, basting with butter and dredging with seasoning and flour halfway through.

  2. Place a dish underneath with lemon pickle and mushroom ketchup.

  3. Serve with the gravy that runs from the chops, adding more if necessary.

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. Shallot + tarragontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together602 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Parsley + tarragontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Parsley + shallottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,737 recipes

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

  4. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  5. Parsley + nutmegtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,062 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 loin
Provides the meat that is roasted, with its juices collecting as gravy.
Eggs
Bind the seasoning mixture to the chops so it adheres during roasting.
Breadcrumbs
Form a crisp, golden coating on the outside of the chops as they roast.
Butter
Adds fat for basting, promoting browning and a rich surface flavour.
Flour
Dredged over the chops to help the surface brown and crisp.
Lemon pickle
Adds sharp acidity that contrasts with the rich, fatty meat.

The step that matters

Roasting over a hot fire with basting and dredging. Too low a heat or skipping the halfway basting and dredging leaves the coating pale and soggy rather than browned. Proteins and sugars in the egg, breadcrumb and flour coating brown only at sufficiently high surface temperatures, while butter carries heat and flavour across the surface.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, parsley, shallot, tarragon, pepper, egg, butter):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Marjoramfits better
  4. Nutmegthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, parsley, shallot, tarragon, pepper, egg, butter. 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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