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Lamb, Breast Of, Broiled

Broiled lamb breast simmered with stock, herbs, onion, and spices, then coated with egg and breadcrumbs and broiled.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley 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, Broiled

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare and simmer

  1. Trim the breast of lamb and place it in a stewpan with enough stock to cover it.

  2. Add the sweet herbs and the onion with cloves.

  3. Simmer gently until the lamb is tender enough to remove the bones.

Season and broil

  1. Sprinkle pepper and coarse sea salt over the meat.

  2. Brush the lamb twice with beaten egg and bread crumbs, adding parsley or herbs if desired.

  3. Broil the lamb over a clear fire, turning carefully to brown both sides.

Make the sauce and serve

  1. Combine the sugar and vinegar in a saucepan and simmer until the sugar dissolves.

  2. Add cayenne and claret, then simmer for 15 minutes.

  3. Serve hot.

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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Onion + parsleytop 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 breast
Provides the meat that becomes tender through slow simmering and then browns under the broiler.
Egg
Binds the bread crumbs to the surface so they stick and form a crust.
Bread crumbs
Form a crisp, browned coating when broiled.
Loaf sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the sauce brown and thicken slightly as it reduces.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that balances the sweetness and richness of the sauce.
Claret
Adds wine flavour and body to the sauce as it simmers.

The step that matters

Broiling the coated lamb. The crumb coating can burn before the meat heats through if the fire is too fierce. Turning carefully keeps the coating intact while both sides brown evenly.

Swap the parsley

The recipe marks parsley as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lamb, onion, pepper, egg, bread, sugar, vinegar):

  1. Garlicfits about as well
  2. Parsleythe original
  3. Cinnamonfits about as well
  4. Tarragonfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against lamb, onion, pepper, egg, bread, sugar, vinegar. 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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