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Mutton-Chops in Disguise

Breaded mutton chops baked in paper with gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Mutton-Chops in Disguise

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. Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Rub the mutton chops with the egg.

  3. Mix the parsley, thyme, bread crumbs, pepper, and salt in a bowl.

  4. Dip each chop in the mixture, coating well.

Cook and serve

  1. Wrap each chop in buttered paper, sealing the ends.

  2. Place the wrapped chops in a Dutch oven or iron frying pan.

  3. Cook slowly until done, then serve in the paper with gravy in a sauce-tureen.

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

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

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

  3. Thyme + peppertop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,585 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  5. Mutton + breadtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,488 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

What each ingredient does

Mutton chops
The main protein, which the coating and slow cooking are built around.
Egg
Acts as a binder so the crumb mixture sticks to the chops.
Bread crumbs
Form a crisp, golden coating that helps hold in juices during cooking.
Parsley
Adds fresh, herbal aroma to the coating.
Thyme
Adds earthy, aromatic flavour to the coating.

The step that matters

Wrapping the chops in buttered paper. The paper must be sealed well at the ends so the chops cook in their own juices and steam, rather than drying out or leaking into the pan.

Swap the thyme

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

  1. Thymethe original
  2. Marjoramfits about as well
  3. Nutmegfits about as well
  4. Capersfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, egg, parsley, bread, pepper, butter. 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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