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Mutton Cutlets a LA Maintenon

Mutton cutlets seasoned with butter, herbs, and lemon, then breaded and broiled.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Mutton Cutlets a LA Maintenon

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the chops

  1. Remove the underbone from the loin of mutton and cut it into chops.

  2. Beat and trim the chops neatly.

  3. Mix butter, parsley, thyme, shallots, pepper, salt, mace, and lemon juice; add to the chops.

Cook and wrap

  1. Cook the chops until nearly done, then place them on a dish and pour the cooking liquid over them.

  2. When nearly cool, breadcrumb the chops and wrap them in oiled white paper.

Broil and serve

  1. Broil the wrapped chops over a slow fire.

  2. Serve with hot poivrade 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. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Thyme + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,973 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Parsley + shallottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,737 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Thyme + shallottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,476 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Mutton loin
Forms the chops; its lean meat and fat provide the main body and flavour of the dish.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, keeping the chops moist and carrying the herb flavours.
Shallots
Add a mild onion-like aroma that deepens the savoury flavour of the coating.
Breadcrumbs
Form a crisp, browned outer layer during broiling.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the rich meat and herb mixture.

The step that matters

Broil the wrapped chops over a slow fire. Wrapping in oiled paper shields the breadcrumbs and meat while heat penetrates slowly. A fire that is too hot can scorch the paper and dry the meat before the chops are cooked through.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, butter, parsley, thyme, shallot, pepper, lemon):

  1. Marjoramfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Winter savoryfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, butter, parsley, thyme, shallot, pepper, lemon. 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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