Why it works: Mutton and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,781 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Mutton Steaks
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Cut mutton steaks from a loin or well-aged steak, ensuring bones are not long if using the neck.
Cook and serve
Broil the steaks over a clear fire, turning them often.
Season with coarse sea salt when they are half done.
Transfer the steaks to a very hot dish.
Rub a bit of butter on each steak.
Serve immediately.
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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Mutton + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,781 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Mutton steaks
- Form the main body of the dish, cooked directly over the heat until browned and tender.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a glossy finish that carries flavour across the cooked surface.
- Coarse sea salt
- Seasons the meat's surface and brings out its savoury flavour.
The step that matters
Seasoning at the half-done point. Salt added when the steaks are half cooked seasons the surface without drawing out too much moisture before serving. Turning often over a clear fire helps the surface brown evenly rather than scorching or drying out.
“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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