Why it works: Shallot and mustard match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 859 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓
Minced Pork Cutlets
Ingredients
Directions
Make the cutlets
Mince the pork and shallots together.
Season with salt, pepper, mustard, cayenne, sage, and baked flour.
Add pork gravy and the beaten egg; mix well.
Form the mixture into 5 or 6 small cutlets of equal size.
Dredge the cutlets in baked flour.
Fry in plenty of boiling fat until pale brown, about 8 minutes.
Make the apple sauce
For the apple sauce, peel and chop the apples.
Combine apples, sugar, and brandy in a saucepan; simmer for 45 minutes.
Beat the mixture with a wooden spoon until smooth.
Serve
Serve the cutlets arranged around the sauce 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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Shallot + mustardtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together859 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Pepper + sagetop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,388 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
-
Shallot + flourtop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,081 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Shallot + sagetop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together181 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
-
Mustard + sagetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together372 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Lean roast pork
- Forms the main body of the cutlets and provides their savory meaty flavor.
- Large egg
- Binds the minced mixture so the cutlets hold their shape while frying.
- Baked flour
- Coats the cutlets so they brown evenly and form a crisp outer surface.
- Apples
- Break down during simmering into a soft sauce with natural fruit sweetness and acidity.
- Moist sugar
- Sweetens the apple sauce and helps it become glossy and thick as it cooks.
- Brandy
- Adds aromatic flavor to the apple sauce as it simmers.
The step that matters
Fry in plenty of boiling fat until pale brown. Frying in deep, hot fat sears the floured surface quickly, creating a crisp crust and sealing in moisture. Too little or cool fat lets the cutlets absorb grease and fall apart.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, shallot, pepper, mustard, sage, flour, egg):
- Lemonfits better
- Limefits better
- Avocadofits better
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pork, shallot, pepper, mustard, sage, flour, egg. 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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