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Braised Leg of Mutton

A braised leg of mutton cooked slowly with ham, herbs, vegetables, and stock, finished with a thickened gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and turnip match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,002 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Braised Leg of Mutton

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Melt the butter in a saucepan.

  2. Add the mutton and brown it on all sides.

  3. Surround the mutton with the ham and vegetables.

  4. Pour in the stock and bring to a boil.

Braise

  1. Cover the saucepan tightly and place it in a 350°F (175°C) oven to cook slowly.

  2. If using a coal fire, invert the lid and place hot coals on top, renewing as needed.

  3. Cook very slowly, then remove the meat and strain the gravy.

Finish and serve

  1. Carefully remove the fat and boil the gravy until it thickens to a half glaze.

  2. Pour the gravy around the dish and serve with julienne or plain vegetables.

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 + turniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,002 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Turnip + oniontop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,585 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

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

  4. Mutton + hamtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together430 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  5. Butter + oniontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Leg of mutton
The main cut, which becomes tender through long, slow braising in liquid.
Butter
Fat that browns the meat's surface and adds richness to the pan.
Stock
Liquid that gently cooks the meat and later reduces into the gravy.
Carrots
Aromatic vegetables that add sweetness and flavor to the braising liquid and gravy.
Onion
Aromatic base that adds savory depth to the braising liquid and gravy.
Ham
Cured meat that adds salty, savory flavor to the braise and gravy.

The step that matters

Carefully remove the fat and boil the gravy until it thickens to a half glaze.. Fat floats on the strained liquid and can make the gravy greasy, so skimming it first lets the remaining liquid reduce into a clean, concentrated glaze.

Swap the turnip

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, ham, butter, carrot, onion):

  1. Leekfits better
  2. Potatofits about as well
  3. Turnipthe original
  4. Shallotfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, ham, butter, carrot, onion. 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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