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Cutlets of Mutton with Green Peas

Mutton cutlets served with green peas and Espagnole sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Sauce and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,338 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Cutlets of Mutton with Green Peas

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cutlets

  1. Trim the cutlets and flatten them with a wet rolling pin or heavy knife.

  2. Beat the egg, mix in 3 oz. of warm butter, and season with salt and pepper.

  3. Dip the cutlets in the egg mixture and coat them with breadcrumbs.

Cook and serve

  1. Boil the peas, drain well, and toss in a saucepan with 1 oz. of butter, salt, and pepper until mixed.

  2. Heat the dripping in a sauté pan and fry the cutlets quickly until lightly browned on both sides, then drain.

  3. Arrange the cutlets overlapping on a thin potato border, serve the peas in the center, and pour the hot Espagnole sauce around.

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. Sauce + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together15,338 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Peas + peppertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,331 recipes

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

  3. Mutton + peastop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together598 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  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).

Sauce and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Bind the breadcrumb coating so it adheres to the cutlets during frying.
Breadcrumbs
Form a crisp, golden coating that browns during frying.
Butter
Adds richness and flavour to the egg coating and the peas.
Espagnole sauce
Provides a rich, savoury brown sauce that moistens and flavours the dish.
Peas
Add sweetness and a tender, green vegetable element to the plate.

The step that matters

Frying the cutlets quickly. Frying over high heat for a short time browns the breadcrumb coating before the thin cutlet overcooks, keeping the meat tender and juicy inside.

Swap the peas

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, sauce, butter, egg, pepper):

  1. Peasthe original
  2. Walnutfits about as well
  3. Beansfits about as well
  4. Lima beansfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, sauce, butter, egg, pepper. 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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