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Lambs' Feet, with Asparagus Peas

Lambs' feet simmered with bacon, lemon, and stock, served with boiled asparagus peas and béchamel sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Asparagus and peas match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 808 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Lambs' Feet, with Asparagus Peas

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the feet

  1. Remove the worm from between the hoof of each lamb's foot and loosen the skin and gristle from the shank bone.

  2. Place the feet in cold water and boil until the shank bone can be easily pulled out.

Braise

  1. Cover the bottom of a stewpan with sheets of bacon, add the lambs' feet, lemon slices, and second stock.

  2. Cover the feet with bacon and paper, then simmer gently for 1 hour.

  3. Remove the feet and place them on a clean cloth to dry, then arrange them around a serving dish.

Prepare the accompaniments

  1. Boil the asparagus peas in just enough stock to cover them until the stock is reduced but not burnt.

  2. Prepare béchamel sauce and keep it warm without boiling to maintain its color.

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. Asparagus + peastop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together808 recipes

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

  2. Lemon + asparagustop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together704 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

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

  4. Lemon + peastop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,005 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Lamb + peastop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together650 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

Lambs' feet
Provide the main meat and gelatinous texture after long, gentle simmering.
Sheets of bacon
Add savory, smoky flavor and line the pan to protect the feet during simmering.
Lemons
Add acidity that brightens the rich, fatty flavor of the braising liquid.
Second stock
Supplies liquid that gently cooks the feet and builds a savory base.
Béchamel sauce
Adds creamy richness and body that coats the feet and vegetables.

The step that matters

Simmering the feet gently. Gentle simmering softens the connective tissue and gristle slowly, turning them tender. A hard boil can toughen the meat and break the skin apart.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lamb, asparagus, peas, sauce):

  1. Lemonthe original
  2. Avocadofits about as well
  3. Pumpkinfits about as well
  4. Cherryfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against lamb, asparagus, peas, sauce. 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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