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Mutton Chops, Grilled

Grilled mutton chops coated in butter, herbs, and breadcrumbs, served hot.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Mutton Chops, Grilled

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the coating

  1. Combine shredded shallots or onion, minced herbs, and butter in a saucepan.

  2. Heat until butter is melted.

  3. Dip each mutton chop into the melted butter.

  4. Coat each chop with breadcrumbs seasoned with pepper and salt.

Grill and serve

  1. Broil the chops on one side for 3 minutes.

  2. Turn the chops over.

  3. Ensure the fire is slow and even to prevent the breadcrumbs from browning too quickly.

  4. Turn the chops several times for even cooking.

  5. Serve hot with a small pat of butter on top of each chop.

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. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Shallot + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,898 recipes

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

  3. Mutton + breadtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,488 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Shallot + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,245 recipes

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

  5. 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
The main protein, cooked by direct heat until tender and browned on the outside.
Butter
Carries the herbs and onion, moistens the chops and helps the breadcrumb coating brown.
Bread crumbs
Form a crisp, browned crust that holds the seasoning and butter on the chop.
Shallots or onion
Add savory sweetness and aroma to the butter that coats the chops.

The step that matters

Keep the fire slow and even. Breadcrumbs contain sugars and starches that brown quickly over high heat, so they can scorch before the thick chop cooks through. Gentle, even heat with frequent turning lets the centre cook while the crumbs brown evenly.

Swap the shallot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, mutton, bread, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Tomatofits better
  3. Potatofits about as well
  4. Shallotthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, mutton, bread, 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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