Why it works: Mutton and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,442 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Mutton-chop Plain
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Cut a chop from the lean side of a loin of mutton and trim off the fat.
Beat the chop well to make it tender.
Preheat the grill over a clear fire.
Season the chop with coarse sea salt and black pepper.
Cook and serve
Place the chop on the grill and turn it several times while broiling.
Press the chop; if it feels tender, it is cooked.
Serve on a very hot plate.
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 + peppertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together5,442 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 chop
- Forms the main body of the dish, and its lean meat cooks into the final texture.
- Coarse sea salt
- Seasons the meat surface and draws out flavour before it cooks.
The step that matters
Turning the chop during broiling. Turning the chop several times lets heat reach both sides evenly, so the outside browns without the inside drying out. Pressing the chop for tenderness is the record's check for doneness.
“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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