Why it works: Mutton and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,781 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Mutton Chops
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Cut the mutton chops nicely, removing all ragged ends.
Fry the chops covered for a few moments.
Dip each piece in cracker crumbs and beaten egg.
Place the chops in a dripping pan.
Bake
Bake in the oven at 350°F (175°C), basting frequently with melted butter and water.
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.
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Mutton + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,781 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Mutton + eggtop 26% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,648 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Mutton chops
- The main meat, whose fat and juices flavour the dish as it cooks.
- Cracker crumbs
- Form a crisp, browned coating around the chops in the oven.
- Beaten egg
- Acts as a binder so the cracker crumbs stick to the chops.
- Melted butter
- Adds fat that helps the coating brown and keeps the surface from drying.
The step that matters
Basting frequently while baking. Spooning butter and water over the chops keeps the surface moist and helps the crumb coating brown evenly instead of drying out or burning in patches.
“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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