Why it works: Lemon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,318 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Fricasseed Lamb-stones
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare and fry
Skin, wash, dry, and flour the lamb-stones.
Fry them in hog's lard until beautifully brown.
Place them on a sieve before the fire.
Make the sauce
In a saucepan, thicken veal gravy with butter and flour.
Add lemon slice, mushroom ketchup, lemon pickle, nutmeg, and beaten egg yolk mixed with cream.
Heat the sauce gently, stirring until hot and white; do not let it boil.
Finish and serve
Pour the sauce over the fried lamb-stones and shake gently near the fire for 1-2 minutes.
Serve immediately in a hot dish and cover.
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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Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,318 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,525 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
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Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Lamb + mushroomtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Lamb-stones
- Provide the main meat, which browns in the hot fat to form a savoury crust.
- Flour
- Coats the meat for browning and thickens the gravy into a sauce.
- Egg yolk
- Enriches and thickens the sauce, giving it a smooth, rich body when heated gently.
- Thick cream
- Adds richness and silkiness to the sauce, softening its texture.
- Veal gravy
- Forms the savoury liquid base of the sauce.
The step that matters
Heat the sauce gently. Egg yolk in the sauce will curdle and turn grainy if it boils. Gentle heat with constant stirring thickens it smoothly while keeping it creamy.
“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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