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Lambs' Feet, with Asparagus Peas

A stew of lambs' feet simmered with lemon, butter, and asparagus peas, finished with béchamel sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 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 gills from the lambs' feet 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 removed without breaking the skin.

  3. Put the feet in a stew pot.

  4. Slice the lemons.

  5. Place the sliced lemons over the feet to keep them white.

  6. Cover the feet with slices of butter and paper.

  7. Simmer gently for half an hour until tender.

Make the asparagus peas

  1. In a separate stew pan, add the asparagus peas with a little stock.

  2. Boil until reduced to a glaze.

  3. Add a little béchamel sauce and cream if needed.

Serve

  1. Remove the lambs' feet.

  2. Place them on a clean cloth, arranging them around the dish.

  3. Pour a little béchamel sauce over the feet.

  4. Place the asparagus peas in the middle.

  5. Garnish with paste or croutons.

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 body of the dish after long, gentle simmering.
Butter
Adds richness and fat that keeps the feet moist during simmering.
Good stock
Adds savoury flavour and liquid to the asparagus peas as they reduce to a glaze.
Béchamel sauce
Adds a smooth, creamy coating that gives body and mild richness to the dish.

The step that matters

Simmer gently for half an hour until tender. Boiling hard can toughen and break the skin and meat, while gentle simmering lets collagen in the gristle slowly soften into tender, cohesive meat.

Swap the lemon

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against lamb, butter, 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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