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Mutton Steaks

Mutton steaks cooked with cucumbers, onions, vinegar, and broth.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Cucumber and onion match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,050 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Mutton Steaks

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Cut mutton steaks from a loin or neck that has hung.

  2. Broil the steaks on a clear fire, seasoning them when half-done and turning them often.

  3. Transfer the steaks to a very hot dish and rub a bit of butter on each.

  4. Quarter cucumbers and place them in a deep dish, sprinkle with salt, and pour vinegar over them.

  5. Fry the mutton steaks until golden brown and place them in a stew pan.

  6. Drain the cucumbers and place them over the steaks.

  7. Add sliced onions, pepper, and salt.

  8. Pour hot water or weak broth over them.

  9. Stew and skim well before serving.

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. Cucumber + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,050 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Cucumber + vinegartop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,734 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

  3. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Cucumber + peppertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,991 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Vinegar + oniontop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,226 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

What each ingredient does

Mutton steaks
Provide the main meat, whose fat and juices give the dish its rich flavour.
Butter
Adds richness and helps the surface of the steaks brown and taste savoury.
Cucumbers
Supply a cool, crisp contrast to the rich meat.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the cucumbers and cuts through the richness of the mutton.
Onions
Add mild sweetness and aroma as they stew with the meat.

The step that matters

Stew and skim well before serving. Skimming removes the fat and scum that rise to the surface during stewing. Without it the liquid stays greasy and cloudy, and the sauce tastes heavy.

Swap the cucumber

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Shallotfits about as well
  4. Cucumberthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, butter, vinegar, onion, 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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