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To Boast a Leg of Mutton

A method for drying, seasoning, and roasting a leg of mutton, finished with salt and boiling water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Mutton and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,442 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

To Boast a Leg of Mutton

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Hang the leg of mutton in a cool, airy place for several days, removing the kernel and drying the flap.

  2. Dredge the mutton with pepper to keep flies away.

  3. If washed, dry it thoroughly and flour it before roasting.

Roast and serve

  1. Roast the mutton at a distance from the fire for four hours, moving it closer for the last 20-30 minutes to brown.

  2. Baste constantly with its own fat to ensure a good roast.

  3. Sprinkle lightly with salt and ladle boiling water 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. Mutton + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together5,442 recipes

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

  2. Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Mutton + flourtop 29% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,695 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanal (grass, green).

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, whose fat and lean muscle define the dish's flavour and texture.
Flour
Coats the surface so it browns and crisps during roasting.
Coarse sea salt
Seasons the meat and adds a savoury finish at the end.

The step that matters

Moving the mutton closer to the fire for the last 20-30 minutes. Heat close to the fire drives browning on the surface through the Maillard reaction, but too early or too long can scorch the exterior before the interior is cooked. Timing the move at the end gives colour without burning.

“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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