Why it works: Mutton and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,488 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Mutton Cutlets
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the cutlets
Remove the cutlets from the mutton and shape them.
Chop off the thick part of the chine bone and beat the cutlets flat.
Trim off all the fat and season with pepper and salt.
Coat and fry
Dip in beaten eggs and coat with bread-crumbs.
Fry in lard until golden brown.
Drain on paper in front of the fire before serving.
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 + breadtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,488 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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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 + breadtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,964 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Mutton + eggtop 26% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,648 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Mutton
- Provides the meat that forms the cutlets and carries their flavour.
- Eggs
- Bind the bread-crumb coating so it adheres to the cutlets while frying.
- Bread-crumbs
- Form a crisp, golden coating that browns during frying.
- Lard
- Conducts heat for frying and gives the coating its golden browning and rich flavour.
The step that matters
Fry in lard until golden brown. The coating must be fully set and evenly browned in hot fat; if the fat is too cool, the crumbs absorb grease and turn soggy, and if too hot, they burn before the meat cooks through.
“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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