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Scalloped Mutton

A baked casserole of mutton, macaroni, tomato sauce, and buttered cracker crumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Tomato and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,923 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Scalloped Mutton

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

Assemble

  1. In a baking dish, layer the macaroni, mutton, and tomato sauce.

  2. Sprinkle each layer with salt and pepper.

  3. Mix the cracker crumbs with the melted butter and cover the top with this mixture.

Bake

  1. Bake until the crumbs are 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. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

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

  2. Sauce + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together15,338 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Tomato + saucetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together5,469 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Mutton + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together5,442 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Butter + muttontop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,781 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

Sauce and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 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

Cracker crumbs
Form a buttered topping that browns in the oven, adding crunch to the soft layers below.
Melted butter
Coats the crumbs so they brown evenly and add richness to the topping.
Tomato sauce
Supplies moisture and acidity that keep the layers saucy as they bake.
Mutton
Provides the meat and savory flavor of the dish.
Cooked macaroni
Adds body and starch that soak up the sauce and give the casserole structure.

The step that matters

Bake until the crumbs are brown. The cook may pull the dish too early, leaving the topping pale and soft. Browning comes from heat turning the starches and sugars in the crumbs and butter, so the top should be checked until it is evenly golden-brown.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sauce, butter, mutton, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits about as well
  2. Tomatothe original
  3. Shallotfits about as well
  4. Potatofits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against sauce, butter, mutton, pepper. 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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