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Lamb Burgers with Brie and Quick Pickled Red Onions

Lamb is crazy-expensive at our markets, it's actually cheaper to go to a fancy restaurants to order lamb chops than it is for me to cook at home.  Ground lamb prices are a little better, but still ...

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Why it works: Onion and lamb are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and 2,407 recipes mention both. Both carry gamma-nonanolactone, which smells coconut, sweet. The science ↓

The recipe

Serves 4
Prep20 min
Cook10 min

Ingredients

Contains: milk (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Toss the thinly sliced red onion with the vinegar, sugar and a pinch of salt in a small bowl. Let stand at least 15 minutes, stirring once, then drain.

  2. Gently mix the ground lamb with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Do not overwork it.

  3. Shape the lamb into 4 patties, slightly wider than the buns, and press a shallow dimple in the center of each.

  4. Heat a skillet or grill over medium-high heat. Cook the patties 4 to 5 minutes per side until the thickest part reaches 160°F (71°C).

  5. Lay the brie slices over the patties during the last minute of cooking so the cheese melts.

  6. Split the buns and toast them cut side down for about 1 minute.

  7. Layer each bun bottom with a tomato slice, a brie-topped lamb patty and a spoonful of drained pickled onions. Add the bun tops and serve.

By steamykitchen. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Onion + lambtop 9% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together2,407 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

  2. Brie + cheesetop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together161 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Pepper + tomatotop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together17,913 recipes

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

  4. Onion + tomatotop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together20,622 recipes

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

  5. Lamb + tomatotop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together979 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans,trans-2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

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

Flavor stand-ins for the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, vinegar, sugar, lamb, pepper, brie, cheese):

  1. Capsicumabout as good a flavor fit
  2. Potatoabout as good a flavor fit
  3. Tomatothe original
  4. Mustardabout as good a flavor fit

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, vinegar, sugar, lamb, pepper, brie, cheese. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).