Why it works: Thyme and marjoram match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,225 recipes. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓
To Fry Lamb
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Cut the lamb into chops.
Rub both sides with the egg yolk.
Sprinkle with bread crumbs, parsley, thyme, marjoram, winter-savory, and lemon peel.
Cook and serve
Fry in butter until light brown.
Serve on a dish by itself, garnished with fried parsley.
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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Thyme + marjoramtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,225 recipes
Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).
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Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,057 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
-
Parsley + marjoramtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,979 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,037 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Marjoram + lemontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together957 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Lamb chops
- The main protein; it is the body of the dish that the coating surrounds.
- Egg yolk
- Binds the herbs and bread crumbs to the chop so the coating adheres while frying.
- Bread crumbs
- Form a crisp, golden coating that absorbs butter and browns during frying.
- Butter
- Conducts heat for frying and adds richness and browning to the crust.
- Lemon peel
- Adds bright aromatic oils that lift the flavour of the rich lamb.
The step that matters
Fry in butter until light brown. Butter browns at a lower temperature than oil and can burn before the chop is cooked through. Medium heat and watching the colour let the crumb brown while the lamb cooks evenly.
“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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