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Leg of Mutton

A roasted leg of mutton served with haricot beans, onions, and a butter‑based gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 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 ↓

Leg of Mutton

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the mutton

  1. Bruise the fibers of the mutton leg using a cutting tool.

  2. Break up the sinew at the knuckle.

  3. Cut off the thin-end bone.

  4. Place the leg in a roasting pan.

  5. Cover with lard or butter.

  6. Sprinkle with coarse sea salt.

  7. Cover with greased paper.

Roast the leg

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

  2. Baste while cooking.

  3. Cook for 45 to 60 minutes, depending on the size.

  4. Check if the meat at the thin-end is soft to the touch.

  5. Drain the leg.

  6. Dish it up.

Make the sauce and beans

  1. Mix ½ pint of gravy with the cooking stock.

  2. Boil the mixture.

  3. Strain the mixture.

  4. Skim off the fat.

  5. Boil the haricot beans in salted water.

  6. Drain them.

  7. Chop the onions.

  8. Fry them in butter until light brown.

  9. Moisten the onions with the mutton stock.

  10. Add parsley and bay leaf.

  11. Bring to a boil.

  12. Thicken the sauce with kneaded butter.

  13. Add the haricot beans.

  14. Season with salt and pepper.

  15. Add a piece of butter and chopped parsley.

  16. Remove the aromatics.

Serve

  1. Serve the beans on a small round dish.

  2. Place the leg on a hot oblong dish.

  3. Serve both dishes.

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. Beans + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,242 recipes

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

  3. Beans + parsleytop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,376 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  4. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

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

  5. Beans + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,733 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Mutton leg
Provides the main meat, which softens and becomes tender through slow roasting.
Lard or butter
Adds fat that coats the meat, keeping it moist and promoting browning in the oven.
Haricot beans
Provide starchy body and bulk, absorbing the flavour of the onion and sauce.
Onions
Browning in butter builds sweetness and savoury depth in the sauce.
Kneaded butter
Flour and butter thicken the sauce, giving it a smooth, glossy body.

The step that matters

Check the thin-end of the leg for softness. The thin end cooks faster and the thick part needs longer, so the meat is tender only when the thin end is soft to the touch. Testing there guards against both undercooking and drying the rest of the joint.

Swap the beans

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

  1. Beansthe original
  2. Chickpeafits about as well
  3. Walnutfits less well
  4. Lentilsfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, butter, onion, parsley, pepper. 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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