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Lamb Cutlets, Cold

Cold lamb cutlets set in aspic jelly with seasoned cooked vegetables.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Lamb and peas work together. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 650 recipes. Both carry 2,4-nonadienal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Lamb Cutlets, Cold

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cutlets

  1. Trim and flatten the lamb cutlets.

  2. Cook the cutlets in butter by sautéing or grilling until done.

  3. Press the cooked cutlets beneath a heavy weight until cold.

Set in aspic

  1. Pour a layer of aspic jelly into a large dish and let it set.

  2. Arrange the cutlets in the set aspic jelly and cover with another layer of aspic jelly.

  3. Let the second layer set, then chill the dish on ice for about 1 hour.

Unmould and serve

  1. Cut the set cutlets out with a sharp knife and arrange them in a circle on a round dish.

  2. Fill the center with seasoned cooked vegetables and garnish with cubes of set aspic jelly.

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. Lamb + peastop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together650 recipes

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

  2. Butter + peastop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,887 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Lamb cutlets
Provide the main cooked meat, which is pressed flat and set whole in the aspic.
Aspic jelly
Sets around the cutlets to hold their shape and form a clear, firm coating.
Butter
Fat for cooking the cutlets, adding browning and rich flavour to the meat.
Mayonnaise or french salad dressing
Adds richness and moisture to the cooked vegetables in the centre.

The step that matters

Pressing the cutlets until cold. Pressing while the meat cools keeps the cutlets flat and even, so they cut cleanly and sit neatly in the set aspic. Chilling fully before arranging also helps the jelly set firmly around them.

Swap the peas

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lamb, butter):

  1. Almondfits better
  2. Beansfits about as well
  3. Sesamefits about as well
  4. Peasthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lamb, 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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