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Lamb, Breast Of, and Peas

A stew of lamb breast pieces simmered with peas, parsley, onion, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Lamb, Breast Of, and Peas

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the lamb

  1. Remove the skin and excess fat from the lamb, then cut it into neat pieces.

  2. Dredge the pieces lightly with flour and place them in a stewpan with the butter.

  3. Brown the lamb on both sides, then cover with warm water.

Simmer and finish

  1. Add the parsley and onion, and simmer gently until the meat is three-quarters cooked.

  2. Skim off the fat, remove the onion and parsley, and finely mince the parsley.

  3. Return the minced parsley to the gravy and add the peas.

  4. Season with pepper and salt, and simmer until the peas are tender.

  5. Serve the lamb on a hot dish, pouring the gravy and peas over it.

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. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Parsley + oniontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  4. Lamb + parsleytop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,322 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

Lamb
Forms the main body of the dish, becoming tender and flavourful as it simmers slowly.
Flour
Lightly coats the lamb so it browns well and helps thicken the gravy.
Butter
Adds fat for browning the lamb and enriches the flavour of the gravy.
Green peas
Add sweetness and a tender texture to the finished gravy.
Parsley
Contributes a fresh, herbal aroma to the gravy.

The step that matters

Simmer until the meat is three-quarters cooked. Simmering gently keeps the meat tender rather than tough. Stopping at three-quarters cooked leaves room for the peas to finish cooking without overcooking the lamb.

Swap the peas

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lamb, butter, flour, meat, parsley, onion, pepper):

  1. Chickpeafits better
  2. Beansfits better
  3. Sesamefits better
  4. Peasthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lamb, butter, flour, meat, parsley, onion, pepper. 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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