Why it works: Butter and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 85,593 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Broiled Mutton Chops
Ingredients
Directions
Choose breast chops for appearance or loin chops for flavor. Cut loin chops 1 inch thick and breast chops thinner.
Flatten the chops with a rolling pin.
Preheat the grill until very hot and grease it.
Place the chops on the grill and turn them after a few seconds to sear and retain juices.
Continue turning frequently, ensuring no side cooks longer than the other.
When the meat feels firm under a fork (do not pierce), the chops are done.
Spread butter thickly on the chops and sprinkle with pepper and coarse sea salt.
For breast chops, use frilled papers on the handles and arrange them in a circle with a purée in the center.
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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Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
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