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Lamb Cutlets

Lamb cutlets served with a smooth pea puree.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Lamb Cutlets

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the lamb

  1. Trim the lamb cutlets carefully and marinate in warmed butter for 1 hour, turning several times.

  2. Broil the cutlets on a greased grill, ensuring they do not drip.

  3. Season the cutlets with butter, pepper, and coarse sea salt.

Make the pea puree

  1. Boil the green peas until soft, then rub them through a fine colander while hot.

  2. Incorporate 1 tablespoon of butter and some flour into the peas, seasoning with pepper and salt to taste.

  3. Add 3 teaspoons of milk and stir in a saucepan until very hot and smooth.

Serve

  1. Arrange the seasoned cutlets in a circle around the pea puree.

  2. Serve the pea puree in the center of a hot, flat dish with the cutlets arranged around it.

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 + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Lamb + peppertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,165 recipes

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

  3. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Lamb + peastop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together650 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  5. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Lamb cutlets
The main protein; cooking it over direct heat browns the surface and firms the meat.
Green peas
Provide the bulk and sweet, vegetal flavour of the puree once softened and pressed smooth.
Butter
Adds richness and flavour to the marinade, the seasoning and the puree.
Flour
Thickens the pea puree, giving it body so it holds its shape on the plate.
Milk
Adds moisture and creaminess, loosening the puree to a smooth consistency.

The step that matters

Rub the peas through a fine colander while hot. Pressing the peas while they are still hot breaks down the cell walls and starch so the puree becomes smooth. Once cooled, the peas firm up and become harder to pass through, leaving a grainy texture.

Swap the peas

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lamb, butter, pepper, flour, milk):

  1. Almondfits better
  2. Beansfits better
  3. Chickpeafits better
  4. Peasthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lamb, butter, pepper, flour, milk. 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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