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Lamb Cutlets En Crepinette

Lamb cutlets wrapped in pig's caul and forcemeat, fried, glazed with herbs, truffles, and Madeira, served with Perigueux sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and truffle are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,209 recipes. Both carry nonanal, which smells fat, citrus. The science ↓

Lamb Cutlets En Crepinette

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cutlets

  1. Trim the lamb cutlets, keeping the rib-bone short.

  2. Lightly pound the cutlets with a meat mallet, then sprinkle with salt and pepper.

  3. Heat clarified butter in a flat stewpan over medium heat and fry the cutlets, turning when nearly done.

Make the filling

  1. Sprinkle fine herbs and diced truffles over the cutlets, then add Madeira and boil until reduced to a glaze.

  2. Remove the cutlets and set aside.

  3. Move the stewpan off the heat and mix in half the quantity of cooked forcemeat with the herbs.

Wrap and cook

  1. Spread pig's caul on a cloth, cut into squares, and layer the forcemeat mixture on each square.

  2. Wrap the squares around the cutlets to cover them completely, then dip in warmed butter and breadcrumbs.

  3. Broil the wrapped cutlets over a clear fire, turning to cook both sides evenly.

Serve

  1. Arrange the cooked cutlets on a hot dish, pour perigueux sauce over, and serve.

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. Butter + truffletop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,209 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  2. Lamb + peppertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,165 recipes

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

  3. Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together15,338 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Lamb + truffletop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together134 recipes

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

  5. Lamb + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Butter and sauce barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Lamb cutlets
Form the main body of the dish, with tender meat that is cooked through and kept juicy.
Pig's caul
Encloses the cutlets and bastes them as it melts, keeping the wrapping moist during broiling.
Cooked forcemeat
Adds a rich, moist stuffing layer that binds the herbs and surrounds the meat.
Raw truffles
Contribute a distinctive earthy aroma and flavour to the herb filling.
Breadcrumbs
Form a crisp, golden browned crust on the outside of the wrapped cutlets.
Clarified butter
Carries heat evenly for frying and adds richness and browning to the cutlets.

The step that matters

Broil the wrapped cutlets over a clear fire, turning to cook both sides evenly. The caul and breadcrumbs can scorch before the meat is cooked through if the heat is too fierce. Steady heat and frequent turning let the fat render, the crust brown, and the lamb reach doneness together.

“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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