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 a LA Minute
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the cutlets
Remove the chine bone from the neck of mutton, about ½ inch from the joint.
Cut off the thin ends of the rib bones, leaving a square neck.
Divide the neck into cutlets with one bone each.
Dip a cleaver in water and flatten each cutlet slightly.
Trim off the outer skin and some fat from each cutlet.
Season the cutlets with pepper and salt.
Cook and finish
Broil the cutlets on a sharp stove or sauté them in a little butter until under‑done.
In a dish, combine a walnut‑sized piece of butter and a little glaze.
Season the butter‑glaze mixture with pepper, salt, and cayenne.
Rub the cutlets in this mixture on both sides.
Dish the cutlets and serve them with a little strong brown broth.
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).
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Mutton + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,781 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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 neck
- Provides the meat and bones that form the cutlets.
- Butter
- Adds richness and moisture to the cutlets and glaze mixture.
- Strong brown broth
- Adds savoury depth and moisture to the finished cutlets.
The step that matters
Broil or sauté until under-done. Mutton cutlets are thin, so they cook quickly; stopping before they are fully cooked keeps the meat tender and juicy, since overcooking dries out lean muscle fibres.
“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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