Why it works: Fig and rosemary share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and 39 recipes mention both. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Directions
Marinate
Put lamb shanks, onions, celery, olives, capers, dried figs, rosemary, black pepper, and garlic into a deep dish and pour wine over.
Cover and marinate in refrigerator overnight or at least 4 hours.
Remove shanks from marinate and set aside.
Brown and braise
Heat oil in frying pan and brown shanks on all sides.
Transfer browned shanks to casserole.
Add tomato paste to pan and stir over moderate heat until deep reddish brown.
Add stock and bring to boil.
Pour mixture over lamb shanks and add reserved marinate ingredients.
Cover and cook at 325°F for 2 hours until meat is almost falling off the bone.
This recipe comes from the Recipes Wiki on Fandom and is licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Our formatting and summaries are shared under the same licence.
Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.
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.
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Fig + rosemarytop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together39 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Olive + rosemarytop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,489 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Rosemary + peppertop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,324 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Celery + peppertop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together16,001 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Celery + rosemarytop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together470 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Lamb shanks
- Slow braising breaks down connective tissue, leaving the meat tender and falling from the bone.
- Merlot wine
- Acidity and tannins in the marinade tenderise the meat and build a deep, rich flavour.
- Dried figs
- Their natural sugars soften during braising and add sweetness that balances the wine.
- Tomato paste
- Browning the paste in the pan deepens savoury flavour and thickens the braising liquid.
- White onions
- Break down during the long braise, adding sweetness and body to the sauce.
The step that matters
Browning the tomato paste. Stirring the paste over moderate heat until deep reddish brown caramelises its sugars and removes raw, sharp flavour. Stopping early leaves the sauce tasting flat and sour.
Flavor stand-ins for the capers
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lamb, onion, celery, olive, fig, rosemary, pepper):
- Thymebetter flavor fit
- Parsleybetter flavor fit
- Garlicbetter flavor fit
- Capersthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against lamb, onion, celery, olive, fig, rosemary, pepper. 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).
“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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