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Casserole of Mutton

A casserole of mutton baked with mashed potatoes, butter, egg yolk, pepper, salt, and gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,305 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Casserole 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.

Assemble

  1. Line a plain mold with mashed potatoes, mixing in a little butter, the egg yolk, pepper, and salt.

  2. Fill the mold with slices of underdone mutton.

  3. Pour gravy over the mutton.

Bake and serve

  1. Cover with more mashed potatoes and bake at 350°F (175°C) for 30 minutes.

  2. Turn out and serve hot with additional gravy.

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. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,456 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Pepper + muttontop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together5,442 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  4. Butter + muttontop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,781 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Mashed potatoes
Form the mold lining and top crust, giving a soft, moist body that holds its shape.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture to the potato layers.
Egg yolk
Binds the potato mixture so it holds together when turned out.
Slices of underdone mutton
Provides the main filling, which finishes cooking and becomes tender in the oven.
Gravy
Adds moisture and savory flavor to the mutton as it bakes.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, egg, pepper, mutton):

  1. Asparagusfits about as well
  2. Capsicumfits about as well
  3. Potatothe original
  4. Leekfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, egg, pepper, mutton. 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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