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Mutton Chops and Macaroni

A baked casserole of mutton chops, macaroni, onion, tomato, and gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓

Mutton Chops and Macaroni

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the filling

  1. Separate the roast mutton chops.

  2. Place them in an enamel bowl with the sliced onion and remaining gravy.

  3. Gently simmer.

  4. In a pot, bring salted water to a boil and cook the macaroni until tender.

  5. Drain the macaroni.

  6. Break the macaroni slightly with the edge of a spoon.

Assemble and bake

  1. Layer half in a greased baking dish.

  2. Add the mutton chops and some sliced tomatoes.

  3. Sprinkle with pepper.

  4. Add another layer of macaroni, followed by more chops and tomatoes until the dish is full, leaving macaroni on top.

  5. Pour the gravy evenly over the dish.

  6. Place it in a 350°F (175°C) oven until heated through.

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. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  2. Tomato + garlictop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,076 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  4. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Pepper + garlictop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,090 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

What each ingredient does

Macaroni
Forms the starchy body of the casserole and absorbs gravy as it bakes.
Mutton chops
Supply the meat and rich flavour that defines the dish.
Remaining gravy
Adds moisture and savoury flavour that soaks into the macaroni during baking.
Onion
Adds sweetness and aromatic depth as it softens in the gravy.
Tomatoes
Add acidity and moisture that brighten the rich meat.

The step that matters

Simmering the chops in the gravy and onion. Gentle simmering keeps the meat tender and lets the onion and gravy flavours blend. Rapid boiling would toughen the meat and reduce the gravy too quickly.

Swap the clove

The recipe marks clove as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, onion, tomato, pepper, garlic):

  1. Cuminfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Corianderfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, onion, tomato, pepper, garlic. 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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