Why it works: Bread and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,013 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Minced Mutton Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the meat
Cut the lean meat from the shoulder of mutton and mince it.
Stew the bones and trimmings until the gravy is strong enough to jelly when cold.
If needed, dissolve 1 teaspoon of gelatine in the gravy.
Mix the minced meat with enough gravy to bind it together, about 4 tablespoons for 1 pound of mince.
Spread the mixture on a dish and let it cool and stiffen.
Form the mixture into cakes about 2 inches in diameter.
Coat and fry
Lightly dust the cakes with flour, then brush with egg and coat with bread crumbs.
Let the cakes sit for 1 hour, then repeat the egg and bread crumb coating.
Heat boiling fat in a frying basket and fry the cakes until browned, about 6 to 8 minutes.
Drain on kitchen paper and serve with tomato 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.
-
Bread + tomatotop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,013 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Mutton + breadtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,488 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
-
Tomato + saucetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together5,469 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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
- Mutton
- Provides the meat that forms the body and savoury flavour of the cakes.
- Strong gravy
- Adds moisture and gelatine so the mince binds and sets firm when cold.
- Egg
- Forms a sticky layer that helps the bread crumbs adhere and brown in the fat.
- Bread crumbs
- Create a crisp, golden browned crust when fried.
- Flour
- Dries the surface of the cakes so the egg coating grips evenly.
The step that matters
Chilling the mixture until stiff before shaping. The gravy must be strong enough to set when cold, and the mince must cool and stiffen. If the mixture is shaped warm or too loose, the cakes will fall apart in the hot fat.
Swap the tomato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, flour, egg, bread, sauce):
- Shallotfits better
- Asparagusfits better
- Leekfits better
- Tomatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, flour, egg, bread, sauce. 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.
You might also like
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 recipes
Mutton Broth292 recipes
Cream of Tomato Soup107 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.