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Epigramme of Lamb

A lamb breast and chops breaded in eggs and breadcrumbs, baked and served with asparagus or macedoine.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Epigramme of Lamb

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the lamb

  1. Place the breast of lamb in a saucepan and cover with consommé.

  2. Boil gently for 1.5 hours.

  3. Press the lamb between two dishes with a weight on top until cold.

  4. Cut the lamb into chop shapes.

Bread and cook

  1. Dip each piece in beaten eggs mixed with salt and pepper.

  2. Roll in bread crumbs.

  3. Place in a pan with melted butter on top and bake in the oven.

  4. In a separate saucepan, heat butter and cook the lamb chops with salt and pepper until browned.

Serve

  1. Serve the breast of lamb and chops in a circle on a dish, garnished with asparagus ends or macedoine.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  2. Lamb + asparagustop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together207 recipes

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

  3. Pepper + asparagustop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,968 recipes

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

  4. Lamb + peppertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,165 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Bread + asparagustop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together363 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Breast of spring lamb
Provides the main body of meat, which becomes tender through long gentle simmering in consommé.
Beaten eggs
Bind the bread crumbs to the lamb so the coating adheres during cooking.
Bread crumbs
Form a crisp, golden coating that contrasts with the tender meat inside.
Butter
Carries heat into the coating and encourages browning and rich flavour.

The step that matters

Pressing the lamb until cold. Pressing while the lamb cools compacts the meat so it holds a firm shape when cut into chops and coated. Cutting or breading it while still warm would let it crumble and the coating slide off.

Swap the asparagus

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lamb, egg, pepper, bread, butter):

  1. Asparagusthe original
  2. Capsicumfits about as well
  3. Potatofits about as well
  4. Spinachfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against lamb, egg, pepper, bread, butter. 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.

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