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Stuffed Lambs’ or Sheeps’ Heart

A lamb or sheep heart stuffed with ham, breadcrumbs, suet, egg, and seasoned, then baked until tender.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Lamb and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,165 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Stuffed Lambs’ or Sheeps’ Heart

Oven, in the book's wordsA fairly hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a fairly hot oven”. The 400°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Clean the heart in salt and water.

  2. Stuff the heart with forcemeat where the arteries have been removed.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake in a fairly hot oven (400°F / 200°C) for one hour or longer until tender.

  2. Thicken and season the gravy.

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. Lamb + peppertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,165 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  2. Lamb + hamtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together160 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

  3. Ham + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,526 recipes

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

  4. Ham + peppertop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,058 recipes

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

  5. Lamb + eggtop 27% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,204 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Lamb or sheep heart
Provides the main meat, which becomes tender through long, slow baking as its connective tissue breaks down.
Breadcrumbs
Absorb moisture and give the forcemeat body so it holds together inside the heart.
Chopped ham
Adds savoury, salty flavour to the stuffing.
Chopped suet
Adds fat that keeps the stuffing moist and rich during baking.
Beaten egg
Binds the breadcrumbs and ham into a cohesive forcemeat that holds its shape.

The step that matters

Bake until tender. Heart is tough muscle, and its collagen only softens with sustained heat. Underbaking leaves it chewy, while overbaking dries the meat and stuffing, so check for tenderness rather than relying only on the clock.

“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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