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 ↓
Thick Mutton Cutlet
Ingredients
Directions
Drain the cutlet briefly and sprinkle both sides with pepper.
Lay the cutlet flat in a well-tinned iron saucepan or stewpan.
Add 3-4 tablespoons of cold water to the pan.
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 it is 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).
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 in water.
- Gravy
- Adds savory meaty depth and moisture to the finished cutlet.
- Catsup
- Adds sweetness and acidity to the sauce.
The step that matters
Simmer gently until tender. A gentle simmer lets the tough connective tissue in the mutton break down slowly. A hard boil can toughen the meat's outer layers and dry the cutlet, so keep the fire low and the water barely moving.
“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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