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Mutton Cutlets, Sardinian Sauce

Mutton cutlets served with a sauce of shallot, parsley, mushrooms, olives, ham, vinegar, and mushroom catsup.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Shallot and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,737 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Mutton Cutlets, Sardinian Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cutlets

  1. Trim the mutton and cut out the cutlets.

  2. Flatten the cutlets with a chopper dipped in cold water and shape them.

  3. Dip the cutlets in beaten eggs seasoned with salt and pepper.

  4. Coat the cutlets in breadcrumbs.

  5. Melt a little butter in a frying pan. Add the cutlets.

  6. Set aside until ready to cook.

Make the sauce

  1. In a stewpan, combine the shallot, parsley, seasoning, and 1 ounce of butter. Fry for 5 minutes.

  2. Pour in the stock. Add a little roux. Boil for 10 minutes.

  3. Add the preserved mushrooms, olives, diced ham, vinegar, and mushroom catsup. Simmer gently for 1 hour.

Cook and serve

  1. Fry the cutlets until light brown. Drain on paper to absorb excess butter.

  2. Arrange the cutlets in a circle on a bed of mashed potatoes on a hot dish. Pour the boiling sauce over them. Serve immediately.

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. Shallot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,737 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Shallot + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,982 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. Parsley + olivetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,649 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Mushroom + olivetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,571 recipes

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

  5. Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

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 meat flavour.
Eggs
Bind the breadcrumb coating so it adheres to the cutlets during frying.
Breadcrumbs
Form a crisp, golden coating that browns when fried.
Butter
Carries heat for frying and adds richness and browning to the cutlets.
Stock
Forms the liquid base of the sauce, adding savoury depth.
Roll (in the method)
Thickens the sauce so it coats the cutlets.

The step that matters

Fry the cutlets until light brown. Frying over moderate heat browns the breadcrumb coating before the meat overcooks. Draining on paper removes excess butter so the coating stays crisp rather than greasy.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, egg, butter, shallot, mushroom, olive, ham):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Thymefits about as well
  3. Parsleythe original
  4. Garlicfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, egg, butter, shallot, mushroom, olive, ham. 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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