Name: Cajun-spiced Lamb Chump, Lamb’s Tongue, Squash Purée, Yoghurt-glazed Baby Gem
Yield: Serves 4
Ingredients: 4 lamb chumps; 5 tsp shop-bought Cajun seasoning; rapeseed oil; 1kg/2lb 4oz lamb; 1 carrot; 1 stick celery; 2 banana shallots; 2 garlic cloves; ½ leek; 1 star anise; 2 cardamom; ½ bottle red wine; 500ml/18fl oz veal stock; 500ml/18fl oz chicken stock; 25g/1oz of salted butter; 2 lambs’ tongues; 400g/14oz duck fat; 1 whole garlic; 2 sprigs rosemary; 2 sprigs thyme; unsalted butter; 1 whole butternut squash; , for frying vegetable oil; salt; ¼ tsp ground cumin; ¼ cucumber; 1 garlic; 2 tbsp freshly chopped mint; 2 tbsp freshly chopped chervil; 5 tbsp natural Greek yoghurt

Why it works: Shallot and leek share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 64 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. 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.

Shallot + leektop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together64 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together10,173 recipes

Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Carrot + leektop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,310 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Celery + leektop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,093 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Shallot + garlictop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,000 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

Swap the banana

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lamb, carrot, celery, shallot, garlic, clove, leek):

Lemonfits better
Limefits better
Avocadofits better
Bananathe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lamb, carrot, celery, shallot, garlic, clove, leek. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Duck	100g cooked with skin	337
Lamb	100g cooked	294
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Banana	1 medium (118g)	105
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Wine	2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)	25
Cucumber	1/2 cup sliced (52g)	16
Cumin	1 tsp ground (2.1g)	8
Celery	1 stalk (40g)	6
Cardamom	1 tsp ground (2g)	6
Lettuce	1 cup shredded (36g)	5
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Rosemary	1 tsp dried (1.2g)	4
Thyme	1 tsp dried (1.4g)	4
Mint	2 tbsp fresh (3g)	2
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Rapeseed Oil	not in our table	0
Star Anise	not in our table	0
Veal	not in our table	0
Pumpkin	not in our table	0
Chervil	not in our table	0

Cajun-spiced Lamb Chump, Lamb’s Tongue, Squash Purée, Yoghurt-glazed Baby Gem