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Soup

Tureen Oj Lambs Tails

A hearty soup of lamb's tails, ham, fowls, onions, herbs, mace, asparagus peas, and a liaison of egg yolks and cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Asparagus and peas match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 808 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Tureen Oj Lambs Tails

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the base

  1. Blanch lamb's tails and place them in a small soup pot until needed.

  2. In a stewpan, layer the bottom with chopped ham, add the fowls, onions, herbs, and mace.

  3. Pour in the water and simmer slowly for 1 hour, ensuring it doesn't catch on the bottom.

  4. Add the stock and boil gently for 1 hour without reducing too much.

  5. Strain the mixture and skim off the fat.

Add the vegetables and tails

  1. Boil the asparagus peas in some of the stock, then add them and the remaining stock to the lamb's tails.

  2. Set the soup pot on the stove to boil for a few minutes.

Finish with the liaison

  1. Make a liaison by whisking together the egg yolks and boiled cream, then strain it.

  2. Add the béchamel to the liaison, then stir it into the soup off the heat.

  3. Return the soup to the heat, stirring continuously until it begins to boil.

  4. If the soup is ready before serving, place the pot in a stewpan of hot water at the side of the stove.

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 + peastop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together808 recipes

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

  2. Lamb + asparagustop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together207 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  3. Onion + asparagustop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,212 recipes

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

  4. Onion + peastop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,460 recipes

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

  5. Lamb + peastop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together650 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Lambs tails
Provide the meat that gives the soup its main body and flavour.
Egg yolks
Thicken the liaison with cream, giving the finished soup a smooth, rich texture.
Cream
Adds richness and fat, and with the yolks forms a smooth liaison.
Béchamel sauce
Adds body and creaminess to the soup.
Old fowls
Build a rich, savoury stock during the long simmer.
Asparagus peas
Add tender body and a fresh, green vegetable element.

The step that matters

Stirring the liaison into the soup off the heat. Egg yolks thicken by gentle heat, and if they get too hot they scramble and curdle. Returning the soup to heat slowly while stirring continuously keeps the texture smooth.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lamb, ham, onion, asparagus, peas, egg, cream):

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Capersfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lamb, ham, onion, asparagus, peas, egg, cream. 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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