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 ↓
Modern Cookery
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Drain the cutlet and sprinkle both sides with pepper and flour.
Lay the cutlet flat in a well-tinned iron saucepan or stewpan.
Add 3-4 tablespoons of cold water to the pan.
Simmer and finish
Place the pan over a gentle fire and simmer for 1.5 to 1.75 hours until tender.
Add salt when the water begins to boil and turn the cutlet when more than half done.
For added flavor, stir in gravy, catsup, and a slight seasoning of spice.
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).
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Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Mutton + flourtop 29% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,695 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (grass, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Mutton cutlet
- Provides the meat that becomes tender through long, gentle simmering.
- Flour
- Coats the surface, helping the exterior hold together and lightly thicken the pan liquid.
- Gravy
- Adds savory depth and moisture to the liquid in the pan.
- Catsup
- Adds sweetness and acidity to the sauce.
The step that matters
Simmer gently until tender. A gentle simmer lets connective tissue in the tough leg meat break down slowly. Boiling hard can toughen the muscle fibres and dry the surface, so keep the fire low and check tenderness near the end of the time.
“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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