Why it works: Mutton and turnip are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,558 recipes. Both carry octanal, which smells fat, soap. The science ↓
Leg of Mutton
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Choose a fat and white leg of mutton.
Chop off the shank bone and cut the skin at the back of the knuckle.
Cook and serve
Place the leg in cold water and boil gently.
Skim the surface regularly until done, about 2.5 hours.
Serve garnished with mashed turnips or caper sauce.
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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Mutton + turniptop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,558 recipes
Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).
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Turnip + saucetop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together943 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Mutton + saucetop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,087 recipes
Shared aroma: decanoic acid (soapy, waxy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Leg of mutton
- Is the main cut of meat that becomes tender and flavorful through slow simmering.
- Cold water
- Gently cooks the meat evenly, with the boiling liquid carrying heat into the joint.
The step that matters
Skim the surface regularly. Foam and scum rise as the meat cooks and can cloud the liquid and spoil the flavour of the broth and meat if left to cook back in. Removing them keeps the cooking liquid clean and the meat tasting fresh.
Swap the turnip
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, sauce):
- Shallotfits better
- Tomatofits better
- Onionfits about as well
- Turnipthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, sauce. 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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