Name: Pounded Mutton Cutlets with Tartar Sauce
Ingredients: ½ pound cold roast mutton, skin and fat removed; 1 ounce cooked ham (or tongue); 1 clove garlic, minced; ¼ teaspoon pepper; 1 ounce melted butter; 3 tablespoons mutton gravy; 1 teaspoon salt; ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper; 1 shallot, chopped; 4 tablespoons gravy; 1 teaspoon isinglass (optional)

Why it works: Garlic and shallot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,000 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

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.

Garlic + shallottop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,000 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together17,451 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Clove + shallottop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,677 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Garlic + peppertop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,090 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Clove + garlictop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together11,368 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

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

What each ingredient does

Cold roast mutton: Provides the main meat body that holds the cutlet together when pounded and shaped.
Cooked ham: Adds savoury, salty flavour that complements the mutton.
Melted butter: Adds richness and moisture, helping the cutlets brown when fried.
Mutton gravy: Adds moisture and meaty flavour so the mixture stays soft rather than dry.

The step that matters

Fry the cutlets for 12 minutes until golden brown. Frying at a steady heat browns the surface through the Maillard reaction while the interior heats through; too little heat leaves them pale and greasy, too much scorches the outside before the centre is hot.

Swap the garlic

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, ham, clove, pepper, butter, shallot):

Thymefits better
Parsleyfits better
Capersfits better
Garlicthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, ham, clove, pepper, butter, shallot. 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.

Pounded Mutton Cutlets with Tartar Sauce