Why it works: Pepper and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Mutton Chops with Lemon
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare and cook
Wash the mutton chops and wipe them dry.
Grease the bars of your grill and broil the chops over hot coals.
Season and serve
Once cooked, place the chops on a dish and season with coarse sea salt and pepper.
Baste the chops with butter.
Peel and slice the lemons, placing a slice on each chop before serving.
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 + lemontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together27,047 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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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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Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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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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Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85,593 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 chops
- The meat itself, which the high heat of the coals cooks and browns.
- Butter
- Adds richness and moisture to the surface of the chops as they finish.
- Lemons
- Add acidity and a bright aroma that cuts through the richness of the fat.
The step that matters
Broil over hot coals. Grease on the grill bars keeps the chops from sticking, and hot coals sear the surface quickly so the inside stays juicy rather than drying out.
“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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