Name: Mutton Cutlets
Ingredients: 3 lbs best end of the neck of mutton; 1 egg; Salt; Pepper; 3 oz clarified butter

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 ↓

Mutton Cutlets

Ingredients

Directions

Place the mutton on a cutting board.
Saw off the end of the rib bone, leaving a 3-inch cutlet bone.
Saw off the chine bone at the back of the cutlets.
Joint each cutlet with a chopper.
Cut each cutlet close to the bone with a sharp knife.
Wet a cutlet-bat and beat each cutlet to about ½ inch thick.
Trim the cutlet round, leaving ½ inch of the rib bone bare.
Shape the cutlets nicely.
Set aside trimmings for clarifying fat.
Rub bread crumbs through a wire sieve onto paper.
Beat the egg on a plate with a knife.
Season the cutlets with salt and pepper on both sides.
Dip the cutlets in the egg, coating them well.
Cover the cutlets with bread crumbs, lifting them by the bare bone.
In a sauté pan, heat 1 oz of melted clarified butter or lard.
Place the cutlets in the pan with the bones facing the center.

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.

Mutton + peppertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together5,442 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Mutton + buttertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,781 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118,967 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together85,593 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Mutton + eggtop 26% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,648 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).