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Entrees of Mutton

Mutton cutlets larded with bacon, braised with vegetables, brandy and broth, then cooled and pressed flat.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,053 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Entrees of Mutton

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the cutlets

  1. Cut mutton into thick cutlets and place on a dish without trimming.

  2. Cut bacon into narrow strips, about ¼ inch square and 1½ inches long.

  3. Use a larding pin to insert bacon strips into each cutlet, studding with 8 strips per cutlet.

Braise

  1. Stew trimmings in a large pan, then arrange cutlets in a circle with bone ends pointing to the center.

  2. Cover cutlets with remaining trimmings, add sliced carrots, onion, parsley, celery, peppercorns, and mace.

  3. Moisten with brandy and enough broth to cover, then cover with buttered paper and a lid.

  4. Braise gently on low heat or in the oven at 300°F (150°C) for about 1½ hours.

  5. Once nearly tender, remove from heat and let cool in the liquid.

Press and finish

  1. Carefully take out cutlets one at a time and place in rows on a large dish.

  2. Press with another dish to create an even surface, then let cool completely before trimming.

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. Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  3. Parsley + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,810 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Carrot + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,873 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

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

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Mutton cutlets
Provide the meat that becomes tender and moist through slow braising.
Fat bacon
Lards the meat, adding fat that keeps the lean mutton moist and flavorful during cooking.
Carrots
Add sweetness and aromatic depth to the braising liquid.
Onion
Contributes savory sweetness and aroma to the braising liquid.
Brandy
Adds aroma and flavor to the braising liquid.

The step that matters

Braise gently at low heat. Collagen in the mutton breaks down into gelatin slowly at low, steady heat. Rapid boiling toughens the meat fibers and can dry the cutlets, so keep the liquid barely simmering.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, carrot, onion, clove, parsley, celery, brandy):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Marjoramfits better
  3. Allspicefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, carrot, onion, clove, parsley, celery, brandy. 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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