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Mutton Cutlets, with Tomato Puree

Mutton cutlets coated in breadcrumbs and fried, served with a tomato puree sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 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 Cutlets, with Tomato Puree

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cutlets

  1. Trim the cutlets from well-hung mutton.

  2. Remove the chinebone.

  3. Shape the cutlets.

  4. Dip them in melted butter.

  5. Brush with beaten egg.

  6. Cover with bread crumbs.

Fry and make the sauce

  1. Fry the cutlets in boiling fat, turning frequently until golden brown.

  2. Drain the cutlets on blotting paper before the fire.

  3. In a stewpan, combine the tomatoes, onion or shallots, herbs, salt, and pepper.

  4. Cook over low heat until the tomatoes can be pulped through a fine sieve.

  5. Return the pulp to the stewpan.

  6. Add softened butter mixed with flour.

  7. Stir in meat glaze.

Serve

  1. Arrange the cutlets in a circle, overlapping slightly.

  2. Fill the center with the tomato puree.

  3. Serve hot.

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. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

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

  3. Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

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

  4. Bread + tomatotop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,013 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Mutton cutlets
Forms the main body of the dish and cooks through under the crumb coating.
Bread crumbs
Form a crisp, golden coating that browns when the cutlets are fried.
Egg
Acts as a binder so the bread crumbs stick to the cutlets.
Tomatoes
Provide the body and acidity of the sauce once pulped.
Butter
Adds richness and helps the coating brown and taste rich.
Flour
Thickens the sauce when cooked with softened butter.

The step that matters

Fry the cutlets in boiling fat, turning frequently until golden brown.. The fat must be hot enough to crisp the bread crumb coating quickly. If it is too cool, the crumbs absorb grease and turn soggy, and the meat may stay underdone inside.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Asparagusfits better
  3. Spinachfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, butter, egg, bread, tomato, pepper, flour. 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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