Why it works: Lamb and mushroom match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and 450 recipes mention both. Both carry 2,4-nonadienal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the feet
Remove the shin-bone from the lamb's feet.
Parboil the feet for 5 minutes, then immerse in cold water.
Drain the feet on a napkin to absorb excess water.
Skewer each foot and singe off any remaining hair over a charcoal fire.
Braise and trim
Braise the feet gently in blanc for about 45 minutes.
Drain the feet on a napkin and trim them neatly.
Place the feet in a stew-pan with a little of their own liquor.
Finish and serve
Five minutes before serving, pour off the liquor and warm the feet.
Add the prepared button mushrooms and enough Pascaline sauce.
Toss everything together over the stove for 2 minutes.
Garnish the border of potato-paste with the ragout and serve.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Lamb + mushroomtop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
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Mushroom + saucetop 11% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together4,480 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Lamb + saucetop 12% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together925 recipes
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Lamb's feet
- Provide the gelatinous, tender meat that forms the main body of the dish.
- Button mushrooms
- Add moisture, earthy flavour and soft texture to the ragout.
- Pascaline sauce
- Coats the feet and mushrooms, adding richness and moisture to the ragout.
The step that matters
Braise the feet gently in blanc. Gentle heat lets the connective tissue in the feet break down into gelatin, giving tender meat and a silky texture. Vigorous boiling toughens the meat and can break the feet apart.
“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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