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Broiled Mutton Cutlets with Mushroom Sauce

Mutton cutlets coated with a herb and breadcrumb mixture, broiled and served with a mushroom gravy sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and marjoram match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,225 recipes. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓

Broiled Mutton Cutlets with Mushroom Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cutlets

  1. Trim the cutlets, removing gristle and fat, and flatten them with a meat mallet.

  2. Mix the egg yolk, parsley, thyme, marjoram, breadcrumbs, salt, pepper, and nutmeg.

  3. Cover the cutlets with the mixture and wrap each in buttered paper.

Make the mushroom sauce

  1. In a saucepan, combine mushrooms and gravy, and boil gently until tender.

  2. In another saucepan, melt butter, stir in flour until brown, then add mushroom gravy and stir until boiling.

Broil and serve

  1. Broil the cutlets over a clear fire, turning when browned.

  2. Remove the paper and arrange cutlets in a circle on a hot dish, place mushrooms in the center, pour sauce around, 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. Thyme + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  2. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Parsley + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,979 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Marjoram + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together687 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Mutton cutlets
Provide the main meat, which is cooked and served as the centerpiece of the dish.
Egg yolk
Binds the herb and breadcrumb coating so it holds to the cutlets while cooking.
Breadcrumbs
Form the coating that absorbs juices and browns during broiling.
Butter
Enriches the sauce and, with flour, forms the roux that thickens it.
Flour
Thickens the sauce as a roux with the melted butter.
Mushrooms
Add earthy flavor and tender body to the sauce and centerpiece.

The step that matters

Stirring the roux until brown. Cooking butter and flour together until brown builds flavor and thickens the sauce, but it can scorch quickly if left unattended, giving a bitter taste. Stir constantly, then add the gravy while the roux is hot so it blends smoothly without lumps.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, egg, parsley, thyme, marjoram, pepper, mushroom):

  1. Winter savoryfits better
  2. Sagefits better
  3. Rosemaryfits better
  4. Nutmegthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, egg, parsley, thyme, marjoram, pepper, mushroom. 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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