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Mutton and Tomatoes

A baked casserole of sliced mutton and tomatoes with breadcrumbs and gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Tomato and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,923 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Mutton and Tomatoes

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Cut the mutton into thin slices and slice the tomatoes.

  2. Butter a baking dish and place a layer of tomatoes at the bottom.

Layer

  1. Cover the tomatoes lightly with breadcrumbs and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

  2. Place slices of mutton on top and repeat the layers, ending with tomatoes.

  3. Pour in the gravy and sprinkle the surface thickly with brown breadcrumbs.

  4. Dot with butter and bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 30 minutes.

  5. Serve hot.

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. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

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

  2. Mutton + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together5,442 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  3. Mutton + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,781 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  4. Mutton + tomatotop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together452 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-nonanal (fatty, waxy).

  5. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 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

Mutton
Provides the main meat and savoury flavour as it cooks in the layers.
Tomatoes
Add moisture and acidity that soften and brighten the layers as they bake.
Brown breadcrumbs
Absorb juices under the topping and form a browned, crisp crust on the surface.
Gravy
Supplies liquid that moistens the casserole and carries flavour through the layers.

The step that matters

Dot with butter and bake in a moderate oven. Baking long enough lets the mutton cook through and the breadcrumb topping brown, while the gravy keeps the layers moist.

Swap the tomato

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

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Carrotfits about as well
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, butter, 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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