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Baked Mutton Chops and Potatoes

A baked dish of mutton loin chops and sliced potatoes seasoned with salt and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Why it works: Potato and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,305 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Baked Mutton Chops and Potatoes

Oven, in the book's wordsA very hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a very hot oven”. The 400°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Wash and peel the potatoes, then cut them into slices about ¼ inch thick.

  2. Wash the sliced potatoes in 2-3 waters to cleanse them.

  3. Trim excess fat from the loin chops.

  4. Shape the chops with a skewer.

Layer and start baking

  1. Layer the washed potatoes in a baking dish.

  2. Sprinkle salt and pepper between each layer.

  3. Add enough cold water to prevent burning.

  4. Place the dish in a very hot oven (400°F / 200°C) on the top shelf to brown the potatoes.

  5. Remove the dish from the oven.

  6. Place the chops on top of the potatoes.

  7. Add more salt and pepper.

  8. Add additional water if needed.

Finish baking

  1. Return the dish to a cooler part of the oven (350°F / 175°C).

  2. Bake for about 45 minutes.

  3. Turn the chops over to brown the other side.

  4. If the potatoes are drying out, gently pour in hot water at one corner of the dish.

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. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Potatoes
Form the base layers, absorbing seasoning and water while softening and browning in the oven.
Loin chops
Provide the main meat, whose fat and juices flavour the potatoes as they cook.

The step that matters

Adding water to the dish. Enough cold water must be present before baking to prevent scorching, and extra hot water added later keeps the potatoes from drying out. Too little liquid lets the dish burn or dry.

“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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