Name: Leg of Mutton R^chauff^
Ingredients: 1 roast leg of mutton; mashed potatoes; dripping; gravy

Why it works: Mutton and potato work together. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 293 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Leg of Mutton R^chauff^

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

1 roast leg of mutton
mashed potatoes
dripping
gravy

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

If only a few slices have been cut from the leg, fill the hole with mashed potatoes, smoothing it out.
Spread a little dripping on the exposed part of the leg.

Roast and serve

Place the leg in a 400°F (200°C) oven for about 1 hour, or until hot and the potatoes are browned.
Serve with gravy around the leg.

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.

Mutton + potatotop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together293 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Roast leg of mutton: Provides the main meat, which cooks through and becomes tender with slow roasting.
Mashed potatoes: Fill the cut-away hole and brown in the oven, shielding the exposed meat from drying.
Dripping: Adds fat that helps the exposed surface brown and stay moist in the oven.
Gravy: Adds moisture and savoury flavour alongside the roasted meat at serving.

The step that matters

Place the leg in a 400°F (200°C) oven for about 1 hour, or until hot and the potatoes are browned.. Checking by appearance rather than time alone matters, because the meat must be heated through while the potato filling browns without scorching. Thickness and bone affect how long the centre takes to heat, so the cook should judge doneness by temperature and colour.

“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.