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Boiled Shoulder Op Mutton

A boiled mutton shoulder rolled with oysters, peppercorns, and onion, served with oyster gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 68,474 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Boiled Shoulder Op Mutton

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mutton

  1. Bone the shoulder of mutton and rub the outside with coarse sea salt.

  2. Let it sit in a deep dish for 1-2 days, turning and rubbing with salt daily.

  3. Sprinkle the inside with black pepper and powdered mace.

  4. Spread the oysters over the inside, roll the meat tightly, and tie securely.

Stew the meat

  1. Place the rolled meat in a stew pan with enough boiling water to cover it.

  2. Add the whole peppercorns and chopped onion.

  3. Cover tightly and stew for 20 minutes per pound of meat.

Make the gravy and serve

  1. Stew the oysters in the stock or gravy.

  2. Add butter and enough flour to thicken.

  3. Once the meat is done, place it on a platter and pour the oyster gravy over it.

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. Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  2. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Oyster + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,184 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

  4. Onion + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Pepper + macetop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,257 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

Mutton shoulder
Forms the main body of the dish; long stewing makes the meat tender and easy to slice.
Oysters
Add a briny, savoury flavour to the stuffing and the gravy.
Flour
Thickens the stock or gravy into a smooth, coating sauce.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, giving the gravy a smoother mouthfeel.
Coarse sea salt
Seasons the meat deeply during the long resting period, drawing out and reabsorbing moisture.

The step that matters

Cover tightly and stew gently. Long, gentle simmering breaks down connective tissue in the shoulder. If the pot is not tightly covered or the water boils hard, the meat can dry out or turn stringy.

Swap the mace

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

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Capersfits better
  3. Garlicfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, pepper, oyster, onion, butter, flour. 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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