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Plain Mutton Chops and Bump Steaks

A simple grilled mutton chop or beef steak seasoned only with salt and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 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 ↓

Plain Mutton Chops and Bump Steaks

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Let the meat rest until properly set according to the season.

  2. Beat the chop before cooking to prevent shrinking.

  3. Preheat a grill over high heat.

Grill and serve

  1. Place the chop or steak on the grill after 2 minutes.

  2. Turn the meat three or four times while cooking.

  3. Season with salt and pepper when half done.

  4. Serve immediately on a very hot 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. Mutton + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together5,442 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Mutton chops or beef steaks
Forms the main meat, whose fat and protein set the texture and juiciness when grilled.
Coarse sea salt
Seasons the surface of the meat and helps draw out moisture to form a flavorful crust.

The step that matters

Seasoning with salt and pepper when half done. Salt applied too early can draw out moisture from the meat, while salting at the halfway point lets it season the cooked surface without drawing out too much juice. Timing the seasoning helps keep the meat juicy.

“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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