Why it works: Milk and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,466 recipes. Both carry 2-undecenal, which smells sweet. The science ↓
Hashed Mutton
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the mutton
Cut the cold boiled or roast mutton into slices and remove the solid fat.
Break the bones and place the sliced mutton in a saucepan with the sliced onion.
Pour enough broth or stock to just cover the meat.
Simmer until hot, but do not let it boil.
Transfer the mixture to an earthen dish and cover the dish.
Let it sit overnight.
Cook and thicken
The next day, skim off the fat.
Return the mixture to the pot.
Add seasoning and a little flour.
Simmer gently for a long time, pouring in milk as the meat dries to keep it moist.
A quarter of an hour before serving, remove the bones and skin.
Stir in the walnut or mushroom catsup.
Thicken with flour, oatmeal, or cornmeal mixed with milk and the cooking liquid.
Boil for one more minute.
Adjust seasoning if needed.
Serve
Serve with toasted bread.
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.
-
Milk + breadtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
-
Mutton + breadtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,488 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Walnut + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,873 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Onion + walnuttop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,771 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cold boiled or roast mutton
- Forms the meat base that is gently simmered until tender and moist.
- Onion
- Adds savoury sweetness and aroma to the broth as it simmers with the meat.
- Flour, oatmeal, or cornmeal
- Thickens the cooking liquid into a hash-like consistency.
- Milk
- Replenishes moisture as the meat dries during long simmering, keeping it tender.
- Walnut or mushroom catsup
- Contributes concentrated savoury depth and umami to the sauce.
The step that matters
Simmering gently without boiling. Boiling toughens meat proteins and can make the hash tough and stringy, while gentle simmering keeps the meat tender. Keeping the liquid below a boil also prevents the thickener from clumping or scorching on the bottom of the pot.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, walnut, flour, milk, bread):
- Shallotfits better
- Arrowrootfits better
- Asparagusfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, walnut, flour, milk, bread. 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.
You might also like
Brown Bread461 recipes
Mutton Broth292 recipes
White Bread80 recipes
Bread Omelette60 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.