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Braised Leg of Mutton

A slow‑cooked leg of mutton braised with ham or bacon, carrots, leeks, onions, garlic, spices, stock, and lemon.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and leek match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,310 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Braised Leg of Mutton

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Cut off the shank and trim the leg of mutton.

  2. In a large saucepan, arrange a layer of rashers of ham or bacon.

  3. Place the leg of mutton on top and pack it with trimmings, shank, and any odd pieces of bacon.

Braise

  1. Add the carrots, leeks, onions (with 2 cloves stuck in one), whole white pepper, mace, allspice, and bouquet garni.

  2. Pour in 1½ pints of stock and the juice of a lemon.

  3. Cover and simmer for 5 hours, shaking occasionally.

  4. If possible, place in a 300°F (150°C) oven.

Serve

  1. When ready, dish the leg of mutton and strain the cooking liquid over it before serving.

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. Carrot + leektop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,310 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Leek + oniontop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,326 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl butyrate (apple, fruity).

  3. Carrot + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,873 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Leek + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together579 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  5. Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 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

Leg of mutton
Is the main cut of meat that becomes tender through long, slow braising.
Rashers of ham or bacon
Lays down a salty, savoury fat that flavours the meat and the braising liquid.
Stock
Provides the liquid that braises the meat and forms the base of the sauce.
Leeks
Add sweetness and aromatic depth to the cooking liquid as they soften.
Carrots
Add natural sweetness and body to the cooking liquid.

The step that matters

Simmer gently for the full 5 hours. Connective tissue in mutton breaks down into gelatin only with long, low, moist heat. A vigorous boil toughens and dries the meat, so keep the liquid at a gentle simmer and covered.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, ham, carrot, leek, onion, clove, mace):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Marjoramfits better
  3. Celeryfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, ham, carrot, leek, onion, clove, mace. 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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