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Lamb, Breast Of, Stewed

A stew of lamb breast pieces simmered in stock, thickened with flour and butter, finished with sherry.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Sherry and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,176 recipes. Both carry 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol, which smells smoky, clove. The science ↓

Lamb, Breast Of, Stewed

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the lamb

  1. Remove the skin from the lamb and cut the meat into neat pieces.

  2. Sprinkle a little salt and pepper over the meat.

Stew

  1. Place the meat in a stewpan and cover with weak stock.

  2. Simmer gently until tender, about 1 hour.

Finish and serve

  1. Drain the meat and place it on a hot dish.

  2. Thicken the gravy with flour and butter.

  3. Add the sherry or light wine and boil for 2-3 minutes.

  4. Serve with stewed mushrooms or cucumbers if desired.

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. Sherry + mushroomtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,176 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol (smoky, clove).

  2. Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  3. Pepper + mushroomtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,580 recipes

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

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

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

  5. Lamb + mushroomtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (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, gentle simmering in liquid.
Weak stock
Cooks the meat gently and forms the base of the gravy.
Flour
Thickens the gravy so it coats the meat.
Butter
Adds fat and richness to the thickened gravy.
Sherry or light wine
Adds acidity and aroma to the gravy when boiled briefly.

The step that matters

Simmer gently until tender. Boiling vigorously toughens the meat's proteins and can make it dry and stringy, while gentle simmering lets connective tissue break down slowly into tender meat.

“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.

More stewed lamb recipes

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