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Mutton Chops a LA Magny

Mutton chops topped with tomato, mushroom, and parsley, baked in butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Mutton Chops a LA Magny

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Trim each mutton chop and season with coarse sea salt and black pepper.

  2. Brush both sides with melted butter.

  3. Place one slice of tomato and one mushroom on top of each chop.

  4. Add 1 teaspoon of consomme or stock and a little coarsely chopped parsley.

Bake in a bag

  1. Put the chops in a buttered bag, fold, and fasten it.

  2. Cook in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) for 15 to 16 minutes.

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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Tomato + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,719 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

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

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

  4. Pepper + tomatotop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

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

  5. Tomato + parsleytop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,398 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

What each ingredient does

Mutton chops
Provide the main meat, which browns on the surface and stays tender when cooked briefly.
Melted butter
Adds fat and moisture, helping the chops brown and keeping the surface from drying out.
Tomato slices
Add acidity and moisture that soften and flavour the juices collecting in the bag.
Mushrooms
Release moisture and savoury flavour into the juices during the short cooking time.
Consomme or stock
Adds liquid and savoury depth, creating steam and flavourful juices inside the bag.

The step that matters

Sealing the bag. If the bag is not sealed tightly, steam and juices escape, so the chops cook drier and less evenly. A well-fastened bag traps moisture so the meat and vegetables cook gently in their own juices.

Swap the tomato

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

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Carrotfits better
  3. Potatofits better
  4. Tomatothe original

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