Why it works: Mutton and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,442 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Mutton Cutlets
seven cutletsIngredients
Directions
Prepare the mutton
Take the best end of a neck of mutton and cut about four inches off the end of the upper rib-bones.
Cut off the chine-bone, remove the fat, and cut seven cutlets about half an inch thick, ensuring each has a bone.
Flatten the cutlets with a moistened chopper to prevent sticking.
Remove gristle and pare away meat and skin from the inside of the bone for shape.
Season and cook
Sprinkle cutlets with salt and pepper, oil them slightly, and shape with a knife.
Cook on a gridiron over a brisk fire for four minutes on one side and three minutes on the other.
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.
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Mutton + peppertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together5,442 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Neck of mutton
- Provides the meat and bones that form the cutlets, with fat that is trimmed away.
- Oil
- Light coating that helps the cutlets brown and keeps them from sticking to the gridiron.
The step that matters
Cook on a gridiron over a brisk fire. A brisk, high heat sears the outside quickly, building browned flavor while the thin cutlets stay juicy inside. Turning once, at the times given, keeps the cook even and prevents the meat from drying out.
“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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