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Cutlets a LA Reforme

Mutton cutlets coated with ham, bread crumbs, and spices, fried and served with a poivrade sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Mushroom and truffle are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and 1,900 recipes mention both. Both carry 2,4-nonadienal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

The recipe

Ingredients

Contains: egg, milk, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the carrot into strips.

  2. Cook the carrot.

  3. Chop the gherkins, mushrooms, and truffles.

  4. Keep them warm in a bain-marie.

  5. Trim the mutton cutlets.

Coat and fry the cutlets

  1. Dip the cutlets in egg.

  2. Coat the cutlets with bread crumbs mixed with ham, pepper, and salt.

  3. Fry the cutlets in butter until golden brown.

  4. Arrange the cutlets in a circle on a dish.

  5. Place the vegetable chips in the center.

Make the sauce

  1. In a saucepan, bring the poivrade sauce to a boil.

  2. Add the currant jelly to the sauce.

  3. Add the port wine to the sauce.

  4. Add a pinch of cayenne pepper to the sauce.

  5. Let the sauce boil for about 10 minutes.

  6. Strain the sauce.

  7. Pour the sauce around the cutlets.

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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Mushroom + truffletop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together1,900 recipes

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

  2. Currant + port winetop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together356 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Mushroom + port winetop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together570 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Mutton + mushroomtop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together684 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  5. Ham + truffletop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together516 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-octenal (fatty, green).

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 dish as the cutlet meat.
Eggs
Egg wash helps the bread crumbs adhere to the cutlets.
Bread-crumbs
Form a crisp, golden coating when fried.
Butter
Fat for frying that promotes browning and a rich flavour.
Port wine
Adds sweetness and depth to the sauce.
Red-currant jelly
Adds sweetness and fruity acidity to the sauce.

The step that matters

Fry the cutlets in butter until golden brown. Medium heat browns the crumb coating without burning it, while letting the meat cook through. Too hot and the crumbs scorch before the meat is done; too cool and the coating absorbs excess butter and turns greasy.

Flavor stand-ins for the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, ham, carrot, mushroom, truffle, egg, port wine):

  1. Red currantbetter flavor fit
  2. Applebetter flavor fit
  3. Grapeabout as good a flavor fit
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, ham, carrot, mushroom, truffle, egg, port wine. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“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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