Why it works: Mutton and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 29% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,695 recipes. Both carry hexanal, which smells grass, green. The science ↓
To Roast a Leg of Mutton
Ingredients
Directions
Hang the leg of mutton in a cool, airy place for several days, removing the kernel and drying the flap.
Dredge the mutton with pepper to keep flies away if it's warm.
Wipe the mutton dry if washed, then flour it before roasting.
Roast the mutton at a distance from the fire for 4 hours, moving it closer for the last 20-30 minutes to brown.
Baste the mutton with its own fat regularly during roasting.
Sprinkle lightly with salt and ladle boiling water over it before serving.
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 + flourtop 29% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,695 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (grass, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
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