Why it works: Clove and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,451 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓
Mutton Rumps and Kidney
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the rumps
Stew the mutton rumps in good mutton gravy for 30 minutes.
Remove the rumps and let them cool.
Strain the gravy to remove fat, then add boiled rice, onion with cloves, and mace; boil until the rice thickens.
Coat the rumps with beaten egg yolks, then sprinkle with bread crumbs, pepper, salt, parsley, thyme, and lemon peel.
Cook and serve
Fry the rumps in butter until golden brown.
Lard the kidneys and roast them in a Dutch oven.
Drain excess grease from the fried rumps before serving.
Warm the rice in the pan used for frying, then place it on a dish.
Arrange the rumps around the rice with the narrow ends towards the middle, and place the kidneys in between.
Garnish with hard-boiled eggs cut in half or assorted pickles.
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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Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together17,451 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Clove + macetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together8,400 recipes
Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
-
Rice + oniontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,433 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
-
Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Rice + peppertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,379 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 rumps
- Stewing in gravy makes them tender, and the crumb coating then fries to a crisp golden crust.
- Boiled rice
- Thickens the strained gravy into a binding sauce-like base for the dish.
- Egg yolks
- Act as a binder that helps the bread crumb coating stick to the rumps.
- Bread crumbs
- Form a crisp, browned coating when the rumps are fried in butter.
- Butter
- Conducts heat for frying and promotes browning and rich flavour on the coating.
The step that matters
Fry the rumps in butter until golden brown. The egg-and-crumb coating browns quickly, so the heat must be controlled to brown the crust fully without scorching the butter or leaving the meat underdone.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, rice, onion, clove, egg, bread, pepper):
- Turmericfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Parsleyfits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, rice, onion, clove, egg, bread, pepper. 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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