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Mutton Cutlets

Breaded mutton cutlets cooked in clarified butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Mutton Cutlets

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cutlets

  1. Place the mutton on a cutting board.

  2. Saw off the end of the rib bone, leaving a 3‑inch bone.

  3. Remove the chine bone from the back of the cutlets.

  4. Joint each cutlet with a chopper.

  5. Trim each cutlet close to the bone with a sharp knife.

  6. Wet a cutlet bat and beat each cutlet to about ½ inch thick.

  7. Trim the cutlet round, leaving ½ inch of the rib bone bare.

  8. Shape the cutlets nicely.

  9. Set aside the trimmings to clarify the fat for dripping.

Bread the cutlets

  1. Rub bread crumbs through a sieve onto a piece of paper.

  2. Beat the egg on a plate with a knife.

  3. Season both sides of the cutlets with salt and pepper.

  4. Dip the cutlets in the egg, coating them well.

  5. Cover the cutlets with bread crumbs, handling them by the bone.

Cook and drain

  1. In a sauté pan, melt 1 ounce of clarified butter or lard.

  2. Place the cutlets in the pan with the bones facing the center.

  3. Pour 2 more ounces of melted clarified butter over the cutlets.

  4. Cook on high heat for about 7 minutes.

  5. Turn the cutlets when they are light brown to cook evenly.

  6. Drain the cooked cutlets on a piece of white‑brown paper on a plate.

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. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Mutton + breadtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,488 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  4. Mutton + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together5,442 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Mutton + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,781 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

What each ingredient does

Mutton
Forms the main body of the cutlets and provides the meat that is cooked and served.
Egg
Acts as a binder that helps the bread crumbs adhere to the cutlets.
Bread crumbs
Form a crisp, golden coating that browns during frying.
Clarified butter
Conducts heat for frying and adds richness and browning to the crust.

The step that matters

Turn the cutlets when light brown. Turning at the right moment lets both sides brown evenly and cook through without the breading burning. Frying on high heat browns the crumbs quickly, so timing matters.

“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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