Why it works: Pepper and potato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,305 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Mutton Steak and Potato
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the steak
Cut steaks from the thick end of a tender leg of mutton, sawing off the bone but leaving it in the steak.
Score the surface on each side if unsure about tenderness, being careful not to let any gravy escape.
Cook and serve
Season with pepper and salt, then broil on a grill.
Cut uncooked potatoes into fillets or other shapes, fry in butter, and garnish the steak with them.
Serve very hot.
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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Pepper + potatotop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Butter + potatotop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,456 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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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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Mutton + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,781 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Mutton + potatotop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together293 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 steaks
- Provide the main meat, whose tenderness depends on the cut and scoring of the surface.
- Butter
- Fries the potatoes, adding richness and browning to their surface.
- Uncooked potatoes
- Serve as a starchy garnish that fries in butter and browns at the edges.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, pepper, butter):
- Potatothe original
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Carrotfits about as well
- Onionfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, pepper, butter. 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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