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House-lamb Steaks Brown

Lamb steaks seasoned and fried, served in a port wine and oyster gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

House-lamb Steaks Brown

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the lamb

  1. Season the lamb steaks with pepper, coarse sea salt, nutmeg, grated lemon peel, and chopped parsley.

  2. Dip the steaks into the egg and fry them in a hot pan.

Make the gravy

  1. In a separate pan, thicken gravy with flour and butter.

  2. Add port wine and oysters to the gravy and bring to a boil.

Finish and serve

  1. Warm the fried steaks in the gravy, then serve.

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. Lemon + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  3. Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  4. Nutmeg + parsleytop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,062 recipes

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

  5. Nutmeg + lemontop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,318 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 steaks
Form the main protein that is seared in a hot pan.
Egg
Binds the coating so it adheres to the steaks and browns when fried.
Flour
Thickens the gravy with butter, giving it body and a smooth texture.
Butter
Adds richness and fat to the gravy and helps the flour thicken it.
Port wine
Adds sweetness and depth of flavour to the gravy as it reduces.
Oysters
Contribute a briny, savoury flavour to the gravy.

The step that matters

Fry the egg-dipped steaks in a hot pan. A hot pan browns the egg coating quickly, forming a crisp crust that seals in juices. If the pan is not hot enough, the coating absorbs fat and steams, becoming soggy and pale.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lamb, pepper, lemon, parsley, egg, flour, butter):

  1. Thymefits about as well
  2. Tarragonfits about as well
  3. Marjoramfits about as well
  4. Nutmegthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lamb, pepper, lemon, parsley, egg, flour, butter. 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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