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Sheeps' Trotters

Contains saltpetre, which may pose food safety risks.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Sheeps' Trotters

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Remove the skin from the brains and soak them in lukewarm water for 2 hours until white.

  2. Boil the brains in a stewpan with ½ pint of vinegar and some coarse sea salt until firm, then drain.

  3. Make a light batter, cut the brains, dip them in the batter, and fry until golden brown over high heat.

  4. Garnish with fried parsley.

  5. Stew the trotters gently until the bones come out, saving the cooking liquid for stock.

  6. Remove the bones and stuff the skin with forcemeat made from minced hearts and light pluck.

  7. Mix the forcemeat with chopped suet, minced onions, flour or oatmeal, and season with pepper and salt.

  8. Clean the bag or stomach thoroughly, fill it with the mixture, press out the air, sew it up, and boil for 2-3 hours.

  9. Rub a large fat leg of mutton with raw sugar, common salt, and saltpetre.

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

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

  2. Parsley + oniontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

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

  3. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  4. Flour + parsleytop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together16,675 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Vinegar + oniontop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,226 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, flour, parsley, pepper, sugar):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Mustardfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, flour, parsley, pepper, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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