Name: Mutton Cutlets with Soubise, or Onion Sauce
Ingredients: 1 neck of mutton; onion parings; carrots; a bunch of parsley; green onions; coarse sea salt; a small quantity of spice; 4-5 tablespoons good broth

Why it works: Carrot and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,053 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Mutton Cutlets with Soubise, or Onion Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the chops

Cut the chops from the neck of mutton without flattening them and trim some flat bone from the ends.
Place the chops and onion parings in a stewpan with carrots, parsley, green onions, salt, and spices.
Add 4-5 tablespoons of broth to braise the mixture.

Braise and glaze

Once cooked, drain the chops and let them cool.
Strain the cooking liquid through a silk sieve and reduce it to a glaze.
Pare the chops nicely and coat them with the glaze.

Serve

Arrange the chops on a plate and pour the soubise or onion sauce into 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.

Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together8,053 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together21,601 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together25,843 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Mutton + carrottop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,878 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Mutton + oniontop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,531 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Mutton chops: Provide the meat that is braised until tender and then glazed.
Onion parings: Add savoury onion flavour to the braising liquid and the soubise sauce.
Carrots: Add sweetness and aroma to the braising liquid, which is reduced into a glaze.