Name: A Boiled Leo of Mutton with Tonoub and Turnips
Ingredients: 1 well-kept leg of mutton, middling weight; cold water, enough to cover the mutton; 1 tablespoon coarse sea salt; 2 medium onions, stuck with 12 cloves; 1 large bunch of parsley; 1 sprig of thyme; 1 sprig of winter savory; 4 or 5 large carrots

Why it works: Thyme and winter savory match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 780 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

A Boiled Leo of Mutton with Tonoub and Turnips

Ingredients

1 well-kept leg of mutton, middling weight
cold water, enough to cover the mutton
1 tablespoon coarse sea salt
2 medium onions, stuck with 12 cloves
1 large bunch of parsley
1 sprig of thyme
1 sprig of winter savory
4 or 5 large carrots

Directions

Prepare

Trim the leg of mutton and wash it without soaking.
Place it in a vessel that closely fits its size and cover with cold water.

Cook the broth

Set over high heat and bring to a boil, skimming off any scum that appears.
Once the scum is gone, add the salt to help clarify the broth.
When the broth is clear, add the onions, parsley, thyme, and carrots.
Cook for an additional 30 minutes.

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.

Thyme + winter savorytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together780 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,057 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Parsley + carrottop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together8,053 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Parsley + winter savorytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together863 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Clove + winter savorytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together690 recipes

Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

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

What each ingredient does

Leg of mutton: Provides the main meat, which becomes tender and flavorful as it simmers slowly in the broth.
Carrots: Add sweetness and color to the broth and become tender as they cook.
Onions: Add savory depth and sweetness to the broth as they cook.

The step that matters

Skimming the scum as the water comes to a boil. Scum is coagulated protein and impurities that rise as the water heats. Removing it early keeps the broth clear and clean-tasting. Skimming late or missing it leaves a cloudy, greasy broth.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, clove, parsley, thyme, winter savory, carrot):

Shallotfits better
Turnipfits better
Parsnipfits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, clove, parsley, thyme, winter savory, carrot. 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.

Mutton Broth292 recipes

Carrot Soup134 recipes

Haricot Mutton59 recipes

Mutton Soup56 recipes

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A Boiled Leo of Mutton with Tonoub and Turnips