Why it works: Mutton and turnip are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,558 recipes. Both carry octanal, which smells fat, soap. The science ↓
Leg of Mutton
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Chop off the shank bone and cut the skin at the back of the knuckle.
Cook
Place the leg of mutton in cold water and bring to a gentle boil.
Skim the surface regularly until fully cooked, about 2.5 hours.
Serve
Serve garnished with mashed turnips or caper sauce.
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 + turniptop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,558 recipes
Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).
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Turnip + saucetop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together943 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Mutton + saucetop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,087 recipes
Shared aroma: decanoic acid (soapy, waxy).
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, whose fat and connective tissue give flavour and moisture during slow simmering.
The step that matters
Skimming the surface while it simmers. Foam and fat rise to the surface as the meat cooks. Skimming them regularly keeps the broth clear and stops impurities from settling back onto the meat, giving a cleaner flavour.
Swap the turnip
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, sauce):
- Shallotfits better
- Tomatofits better
- Onionfits about as well
- Turnipthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, sauce. 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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