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Mutton Cutlets with Mashed Potatoes

Mutton cutlets served hot over mashed potatoes, seasoned with salt, pepper, mace, and parsley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Isabella Beeton · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Mutton Cutlets with Mashed Potatoes

6 persons

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cutlets

  1. Procure a well-hung neck of mutton.

  2. Saw off about 3 inches of the top of the bones.

  3. Cut the cutlets of a moderate thickness.

  4. Shape them by chopping off the thick part of the chine bone.

  5. Beat them flat with a cutlet chopper.

  6. Scrape quite clean a portion of the top of the bone.

Cook and serve

  1. Broil them over a nice clear fire for about 7 or 8 minutes, turning them frequently.

  2. Have ready some smoothly-mashed white potatoes.

  3. Place the mashed potatoes in the middle of the dish.

  4. When the cutlets are done, season them with pepper and salt.

  5. Arrange the cutlets round the potatoes, with the thick end downwards.

  6. Serve very hot and quickly.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

168Calories
5 gProtein
0 gFat
39 gCarbs

Counts 4 of 5 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Potato1 medium (173g) baked161
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Macenot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Isabella Beeton. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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. See the original page.

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. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Parsley + potatotop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,855 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

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

  4. Mace + parsleytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,268 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  5. Mace + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,257 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

Mace and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,257 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 neck cutlets (in the method)
Provide the main meat, which is tenderised by beating and cooked quickly over fire to brown the surface.
Potatoes
Form a smooth mashed base that gives the dish its soft, moist texture beneath the cutlets.
Gravy
Adds moisture and savoury flavour to the dish.

The step that matters

Broiling the cutlets. Over a clear, hot fire the outside browns and sets quickly while the inside stays juicy. Turning them frequently spreads the heat evenly and prevents the surface from burning before the centre is cooked.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (parsley, potato, pepper):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Dillfits better
  3. Marjoramfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against parsley, potato, pepper. 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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