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Mutton Cutlets

Mutton cutlets coated in flour and breadcrumbs, fried and simmered with vegetables and stock, served with mashed potatoes.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 18 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,012 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Mutton Cutlets

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mutton

  1. Divide the mutton into cutlets, trim off all fat, chop the bones to the same length, and scrape them clean.

  2. Coat the cutlets in flour, dip in beaten egg, cover with seasoned breadcrumbs, and let rest for 20 minutes.

Braise the cutlets

  1. Melt beef dripping in a pan, add sliced onion, carrot, turnip, and parsley.

  2. Arrange cutlets on the vegetables, cover with greased paper, and fry gently for 10 minutes.

  3. Pour in stock or water under the paper and simmer for 40 minutes.

Make the accompaniments

  1. Boil macaroni and celery until tender, then chop and mix with thick white sauce flavored with grated cheese.

  2. Mash potatoes with a little milk, season with salt and pepper, and beat until smooth.

Finish and serve

  1. Press the cooked cutlets between two flat dishes with a weight until cold, then dip in beaten egg and coat with breadcrumbs.

  2. Fry the cutlets in boiling fat until golden brown.

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 + celerytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

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

  2. Cauliflower + celerytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together488 recipes

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

  3. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

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

  4. Nutmeg + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,331 recipes

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

  5. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Mutton
Forms the main body of the cutlets and provides the meaty flavor.
Beaten egg
Acts as a binder so the breadcrumb coating adheres to the cutlets.
Fine dry breadcrumbs
Form a crisp, golden crust when the cutlets are fried.
Beef dripping
Adds fat for frying and contributes richness and browning to the crust.
Onion
Builds savory sweetness and aroma as it softens in the fat.
Stock
Adds moisture and savory flavor during the gentle simmering.

The step that matters

Pressing the cooked cutlets until cold. Pressing firms the cooked meat so the egg and breadcrumb coating stays on and the cutlets hold their shape when fried.

Swap the cauliflower

The recipe marks cauliflower as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, flour, egg, pepper, nutmeg, celery, beef):

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Spinachfits better
  3. Leekfits better
  4. Cauliflowerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, flour, egg, pepper, nutmeg, celery, beef. 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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