Name: Mutton, Boiled
Ingredients: Mutton, sliced; Tomatoes, sliced; ½ cup brown breadcrumbs; ½ cup gravy; 2 tablespoons butter; Salt, to taste; Pepper, to taste

Why it works: Tomato and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,923 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Mutton, Boiled

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

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Butter a baking dish and layer sliced tomatoes at the bottom.

Layer and bake

Cover the tomatoes lightly with brown breadcrumbs and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Place slices of mutton on top and repeat the layers until all ingredients are used, ending with a layer of tomatoes.
Pour the gravy over the top and sprinkle thickly with brown breadcrumbs.
Dot the surface with bits of butter and bake for about 30 minutes.
Serve hot.

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.

Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,923 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Mutton + peppertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together5,442 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Mutton + buttertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,781 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Mutton + tomatotop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together452 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-nonanal (fatty, waxy).
Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together85,593 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: Forms the savoury, meaty body of the casserole as it cooks through in the oven.
Tomatoes: Add moisture and gentle acidity that keeps the layers juicy during baking.
Brown breadcrumbs: Absorb juices and form a crisp, lightly browned topping as the casserole bakes.
Gravy: Adds liquid and savoury flavour that moistens the layers and softens the breadcrumbs.
Butter: Adds richness and helps the top surface brown in the oven.