Why it works: Clove and carrot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,873 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓
Leg of Mutton, in ‘pot-pourri’
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the marinade
Bone the leg of mutton completely without opening it.
Lard the inside with fillets of bacon and raw ham.
Sew the leg into a round form and place it in a bowl.
Season the leg and add aromatics, cloves, and peppercorns.
Pour the burgundy wine over the leg.
Cover the leg with a cloth.
Refrigerate for 4 hours.
Cook
Six hours before serving, layer the bottom and sides of a stockpot with bacon.
Place the leg of mutton in the pot.
Surround the leg with onions and carrots.
Add the marinaded liquid and ingredients to the pot.
Cover the pot with paper.
Place a deep plate half full of water over the pot.
Bring to a boil.
Place the pot on hot ashes to cook gently for the entire cooking time.
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.
-
Clove + carrottop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,873 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
-
Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together21,601 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Onion + porktop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,214 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Mutton + porktop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,239 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-nonanal (fatty, waxy).
-
Clove + oniontop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together16,901 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Leg of mutton
- Forms the main body of the dish and supplies the meat that cooks slowly until tender.
- Fillets of bacon
- Adds fat and savoury flavour that bastes the lean meat as it cooks.
- Fillets of raw ham
- Adds salty, savoury flavour and fat to the meat from within.
- Burgundy wine
- Acidity and flavour in the marinade help tenderise the meat and build depth in the liquid.
- Onions
- Release sweetness and aroma into the braising liquid as they soften.
- Carrots
- Add natural sweetness and body to the braising liquid as they cook.
The step that matters
Cooking gently on hot ashes with a water-filled plate over the pot. Slow, gentle heat lets the tough connective tissue in the mutton break down into tender meat. Too much heat dries and toughens it, while the sealed pot and water plate keep steam circulating so the meat stays moist.
Swap the clove
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, ham, wine, onion, carrot, pork):
- Thymefits better
- Garlicfits better
- Celeryfits better
- Clovethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, ham, wine, onion, carrot, pork. 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.
You might also like
Mutton Broth292 recipes
Carrot Soup134 recipes
Pork Cake107 recipes
Roast Pork82 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.