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Lamb Cutlets with Tomatoes

Breaded lamb cutlets served with a tomato sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,923 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Lamb Cutlets with Tomatoes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cutlets

  1. Prepare cutlets about 4 inches long.

  2. Scrape off meat from the end of the bone to leave 1 inch bare.

  3. Chop off the chine bones.

  4. Flatten the cutlets with the side of a cleaver.

  5. Sprinkle cutlets with pepper and salt.

Bread and fry

  1. Dip cutlets in beaten egg.

  2. Coat cutlets with breadcrumbs.

  3. Heat fat until a light blue vapor rises.

  4. Fry cutlets until golden brown.

  5. Remove cutlets from fat.

  6. Drain cutlets on clean paper.

Cook the tomatoes

  1. Slice tomatoes.

  2. Place sliced tomatoes in a pan with butter, pepper, and salt.

  3. Add vinegar and sugar to the pan.

  4. Simmer tomatoes until tender.

Serve

  1. Arrange tomatoes in the center of a hot dish.

  2. Place cutlets around the tomatoes.

  3. Garnish with parsley.

  4. Serve hot.

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. Pepper + tomatotop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

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

  2. Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Tomato + vinegartop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,063 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Lamb cutlets
Forms the main body of the dish; frying gives them a browned, crisp exterior.
Beaten egg
Acts as a binder so the breadcrumbs adhere to the cutlets.
Breadcrumbs
Form a crisp, golden coating when fried in hot fat.
Tomatoes
Soften into a moist, slightly sweet-tart sauce that accompanies the cutlets.
Butter
Adds fat and richness to the tomatoes as they cook.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the flavor of the tomatoes.

The step that matters

Heat fat until a light blue vapor rises. If the fat is too cool, the breadcrumb coating absorbs oil and turns greasy instead of crisping; wisps of vapor signal it is hot enough to seal the coating quickly.

Swap the tomato

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Mustardfits better
  3. Cucumberfits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, pepper, butter, vinegar, sugar. 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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