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Fricassee of Lamb-stones and Sweetbreads, Another Way

A fricassee of lamb-stones, sweetbreads, oysters, and asparagus topped with gravy and egg yolks.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Asparagus and shallot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 137 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Fricassee of Lamb-stones and Sweetbreads, Another Way

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Blanch, parboil, and slice lamb-stones.

  2. Flour the sweetbreads and cut thick ones in half.

Fry and simmer

  1. Fry the lamb-stones, sweetbreads, and oysters until golden brown.

  2. Pour off the butter and add gravy, asparagus, nutmeg, pepper, salt, and shallots.

  3. Simmer for 10 minutes.

Thicken and serve

  1. Mix a little gravy with beaten egg yolks, then combine with the rest of the gravy.

  2. Return to the pan and stir until thickened without boiling.

  3. Garnish with lemon and serve hot.

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 + shallottop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together137 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Nutmeg + shallottop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,019 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Nutmeg + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Asparagus + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,968 recipes

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

  5. Asparagus + nutmegtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together252 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Thicken the gravy into a smooth, creamy sauce when gently heated.
Gravy
Forms the liquid base of the fricassee that the other ingredients simmer in.
Sweetbreads
Provide a tender, rich meat that browns well when fried.
Shallots
Add a mild, savory onion flavor that deepens during simmering.
White wine
Adds acidity and aroma that brighten the rich sauce.

The step that matters

Stir the egg yolks in without boiling. Egg yolks thicken by gently coagulating proteins. If the sauce boils, the yolks can scramble and curdle, leaving the sauce grainy instead of smooth.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (oyster, asparagus, pepper, shallot, white wine, egg):

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Capersfits better
  3. Parsleyfits better
  4. Nutmegthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against oyster, asparagus, pepper, shallot, white wine, egg. 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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