Why it works: Lamb and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,165 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Lamb K LA Matelot
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Beat the egg in a bowl.
Dip each slice of lamb into the beaten egg, allowing excess to drain off.
Coat each piece with seasoned bread crumbs.
Fry
Heat lard in a frying pan and fry the coated lamb until golden brown.
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.
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Lamb + peppertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,165 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
-
Lamb + breadtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together598 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
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Bread + peppertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,964 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Lamb + eggtop 27% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,204 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
- Thick slices of cold lamb
- Forms the main body of the cutlet, cooked through while the coating browns.
- Egg
- Acts as a binder so the bread crumbs stick to the lamb.
- Bread crumbs
- Form a crisp, golden coating that browns when fried.
- Lard
- Conducts heat in the pan and helps the coating brown evenly.
The step that matters
Draining the egg before coating. Excess egg left on the lamb will make the crumbs gummy and pull them off in the pan. Letting it drain leaves a thin, even layer that crisps when fried.
“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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