Why it works: Mutton and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,442 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Roast Shoulder of Mutton
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Season the shoulder of mutton with coarse sea salt and black pepper.
Place the mutton in a roasting pan and add herbs if desired.
Roast and rest
Roast in the oven for about 1.5 to 2 hours, or until cooked to your liking.
Let rest for 10 minutes before carving.
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 + peppertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together5,442 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Shoulder of mutton
- Is the main cut of meat, providing the bulk, flavour and texture of the dish.
- Coarse sea salt
- Seasons the meat and helps draw out moisture from the surface for better browning.
The step that matters
Let rest for 10 minutes before carving. During roasting, muscle fibres tighten and juices move toward the centre. Resting lets the juices redistribute, so carved slices stay moister instead of spilling their juices onto the board.
“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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