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Savory Mutton Chops

Savory mutton chops coated in eggs and breadcrumbs, boiled in buttered paper, served with a sauce of gravy, butter, breadcrumbs, capers, anchovies, nutmeg, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Savory Mutton Chops

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the chops

  1. Cut the mutton chops and tenderize them with the edge of a knife.

  2. Beat a few egg yolks.

  3. Dip the chops in the eggs.

  4. Season the chops with pepper, coarse sea salt, nutmeg, and bread crumbs.

  5. Wrap the chops in buttered paper.

Cook and serve

  1. Boil the wrapped chops.

  2. Combine gravy, a piece of butter, bread crumbs, capers, anchovies, nutmeg, and a little vinegar to make the sauce.

  3. Remove the paper from the chops.

  4. Serve the chops on a dish with the sauce.

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. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Nutmeg + caperstop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together211 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Mutton + breadtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,488 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  5. Pepper + caperstop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,088 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

What each ingredient does

Mutton chops
Main protein; tenderizing by cutting helps the meat stay tender while cooking.
Eggs
Egg yolks coat the chops, helping the seasoning and crumbs adhere.
Bread crumbs
Form a coating on the chops that helps hold moisture and adds a light texture.
Butter
Adds richness and flavor to the paper wrapping and the sauce.
Anchovies
Add a salty, savory depth to the sauce.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the rich gravy and butter sauce.

The step that matters

Boil the wrapped chops. Boiling in a wrapper relies on gentle, steady heat; too rough a boil can break up the coating and dry or toughen the meat. Keep the water at a steady simmer.

Swap the capers

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, egg, pepper, nutmeg, bread, butter, vinegar):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Cinnamonfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Capersthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, egg, pepper, nutmeg, bread, butter, vinegar. 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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