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Lamb and Mutton Chops

Lamb and mutton chops seasoned with salt and pepper, broiled, and served with tomato sauce and parsley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley 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 ↓

Lamb and Mutton Chops

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Remove the outer skin and all the fat from the chops.

Cook and serve

  1. Broil the chops over coals or on a hot griddle.

  2. Serve with tomato sauce and season with salt and pepper.

  3. Garnish with parsley.

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 + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Pepper + tomatotop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

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

  3. Parsley + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,398 recipes

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

  4. Lamb + parsleytop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,322 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Lamb + tomatotop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together979 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans,trans-2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Lamb or mutton chops
Main protein; broiling browns the surface while the inside stays tender.
Tomato sauce
Adds acidity and moisture to contrast the rich, fatty meat.

The step that matters

Broil over coals or a hot griddle. Strong, direct heat browns the surface quickly, building flavour before the inside overcooks. Chops that sit too long over lower heat turn dry and grey instead of seared.

Swap the tomato

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

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Capsicumfits about as well
  3. Shallotfits about as well
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lamb, pepper, parsley, sauce. 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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