Name: Mutton Cutlets, Reform Club
Ingredients: 4 or 5 thick mutton cutlets; Salt and pepper to taste; 1 egg, beaten; ½ cup finely minced ham; ½ cup bread crumbs; Oil for frying; Round mashed potatoes; 2 onions, chopped; 2 sprigs parsley, chopped; 2 sprigs thyme, chopped; 2 bay leaves; 2 ounces pounded lean ham; ½ clove garlic, minced; ½ blade mace, crushed; 2 tablespoons tarragon vinegar; 1 tablespoon chili vinegar; 1 pint brown sauce; 1 tablespoon red currant jelly; 1 tablespoon finely chopped mushrooms; White of hard-boiled eggs, cut into strips; 2 blanched mushrooms, sliced; 1 or 2 gherkins, chopped; Pinch of cayenne; Salt to taste

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 ↓

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.

Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together34,122 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,023 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,855 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Ham + breadtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,536 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together25,843 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Mutton cutlets: The main protein, which the coating and frying turn into a crisp-edged dish.
Egg: Acts as a binding wash so the ham and bread crumb coating sticks to the cutlets.
Bread crumbs: Form a crisp, browned outer crust when fried in oil.
Brown sauce: Provides the body and savoury base of the sauce that is reduced and strained.
Red currant jelly: Adds sweetness and gloss to the sauce, balancing the vinegars.

The step that matters

Reduce the sauce to the thickness of cream. Simmering drives off water so the sauce thickens and concentrates its flavour. Stopping too early leaves it thin, while over-reducing makes it heavy and salty.

Swap the onion

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

Carrotfits better
Asparagusfits better
Capsicumfits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, pepper, egg, ham, bread, potato, parsley. 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.

Mutton Cutlets, Reform Club