Why it works: Flour and almond are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,673 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Stuffed Mutton Chops
Ingredients
Directions
Make the filling
Make a white roux by melting the butter and stirring in the flour until thickened.
Gradually add the stock, mixing until it bubbles.
Stir in the chopped almonds or mushrooms and season with salt.
Boil once, then let the mixture cool and stiffen.
Stuff and cook
Cut the mutton chops horizontally to the bone, leaving it intact.
Fill the slit with the cold paste and close the sides.
Secure with a wooden toothpick and broil over clear coals, turning often for 10 minutes.
Remove the toothpicks and serve on a bed of green peas.
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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Flour + almondtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,673 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + almondtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,245 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + muttontop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,781 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Almond + muttontop 28% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together148 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Butter
- Enriches the roux, giving the filling a rich flavour and smooth body.
- Flour
- Thickens the stock into a paste that holds its shape when cooled.
- Stock
- Provides the liquid that is thickened into the savoury paste.
- Almonds or mushrooms
- Add texture and bulk to the filling.
- Mutton chops
- Form the outer meat that encloses the cooled filling and cooks over the coals.
The step that matters
Let the paste cool and stiffen before stuffing. A warm paste stays loose and runs out of the slit during cooking. Once cooled, the starch in the roux sets into a firm mass that stays inside the chop.
“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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