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Lamb, Shoulder Of, Stuffed and Braised

A braised lamb shoulder stuffed with veal forcemeat, seasoned and cooked with bacon, onions, celery, herbs, and stock.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,012 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Lamb, Shoulder Of, Stuffed and Braised

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the lamb

  1. Remove the blade bone from the shoulder of lamb, leaving the shank bone intact.

  2. Fill the cavity with veal forcemeat and season the inner surface with salt, pepper, and grated nutmeg.

  3. Sew the edges of the shoulder together with strong thread.

Braise and glaze

  1. Place the lamb in a braising pan with slices of fat bacon underneath and on top.

  2. Add the onions, celery, savory herbs, and white stock to the pan.

  3. Braise the lamb for 2 hours over low heat.

  4. Remove the lamb, drain it, and boil the gravy down quickly to glaze the meat.

Serve

  1. Serve the glazed lamb with cucumber, tomato, or sorrel sauce.

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 + celerytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

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

  2. Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

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

  4. Nutmeg + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,331 recipes

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

  5. Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Shoulder of lamb
Forms the main meat that becomes tender during long, slow braising.
Veal forcemeat
Adds moisture and richness to the cavity as it cooks alongside the lamb.
Fat bacon
Bastes the meat with melting fat and adds savory flavor during braising.
White stock
Provides the braising liquid that becomes the gravy for glazing.
Onions
Add savory sweetness and aroma to the braising liquid as they soften.

The step that matters

Boil the gravy down quickly to glaze the meat. Rapid reduction concentrates the braising liquid into a thick glaze that clings to the meat. Slow boiling would leave it thin and watery, so the cook should watch it closely and not let it over-reduce or scorch.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lamb, pepper, veal, onion, celery):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Garlicfits better
  3. Turmericfits better
  4. Nutmegthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lamb, pepper, veal, onion, celery. 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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