Why it works: Pepper and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 13,015 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. 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
Remove the cutlets from the fire and let them cool in their own juices.
Press the cutlets between two dishes until cold, then trim them neatly.
Make the horseradish coating
In a small saucepan, combine grated horseradish, butter, vinegar, mignonette pepper, nutmeg, and sugar.
Cover and stew gently for 20 minutes.
Add Veloute sauce to the mixture and boil for 10 minutes.
Stir in egg yolks and glaze.
Coat and serve
Coat one side of the cutlets with the horseradish mixture.
Brush the coated side with beaten egg white and sprinkle with fried bread crumbs.
Arrange the cutlets in a sauté pan with half glaze.
Warm the cutlets in the oven at 300°F (150°C) for 15 minutes without browning.
Serve with a small paper ruffle on the bone and pour half glaze underneath.
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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Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together13,015 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Horseradish + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together389 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
-
Horseradish + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,646 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
-
Horseradish + vinegartop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,609 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Horseradish + saucetop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together775 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Horseradish
- Provides the sharp, pungent flavour that defines the coating.
- Butter
- Adds richness and carries flavour through the coating mixture.
- Egg yolks
- Enrich and thicken the coating so it sets smoothly on the cutlets.
- Veloute sauce
- Adds body and a smooth, creamy base to the horseradish mixture.
- Egg white
- Binds the bread crumbs to the coated side of the cutlets.
The step that matters
Stirring in the egg yolks. Yolks thicken when heated, so they should be added off the boil and stirred steadily; if the mixture is too hot, they can scramble and turn grainy.
Swap the horseradish
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, vinegar, pepper, nutmeg, sugar, sauce, egg):
- Capsicumfits better
- Mustardfits better
- Shallotfits better
- Horseradishthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, vinegar, pepper, nutmeg, sugar, sauce, egg. 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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