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Mutton Cutlets, with Spanish Sauce

Mutton cutlets filled with a mushroom and onion sauce, then broiled.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper 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 Cutlets, with Spanish Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Trim the cutlets like French chops and split each in two without separating from the bone.

Make the filling

  1. In a pan, cook the butter and onion together for 5 minutes.

  2. Add the mushrooms, salt, and pepper.

  3. Cook for another 5 minutes.

  4. Stir in the flour.

  5. Add the water or stock.

  6. Cook for 3 minutes.

  7. Let the filling cool.

Cook and serve

  1. Spread the filling inside the chops.

  2. Press the chops together.

  3. Broil the chops for 8 minutes over a clear fire.

  4. Arrange on a warm platter.

  5. Serve.

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. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Mushroom + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

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

  3. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

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

  4. Mushroom + oniontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,626 recipes

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

  5. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Mutton cutlets
Form the main protein, with the filling sealed inside as the chops cook under the broiler.
Mushrooms
Add moisture and an earthy, savoury flavour to the filling as they cook down.
Butter
Adds fat and richness and helps the onion and filling take on colour.
Flour
Thickens the cooked liquid into a binding filling that holds together inside the chops.
Onion
Cooked slowly in butter to add aroma and a mild sweetness to the filling.

The step that matters

Let the filling cool. Starch-thickened filling stays loose while hot and can run out of the chops or make them hard to press shut. Cooling lets it firm up so it spreads and stays inside during broiling.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Carrotfits better
  3. Spinachfits better
  4. Onionthe original

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