Skip to main content
Main

Saddle of Lamb, a LA Dauphlne

A roasted saddle of lamb stuffed with forcemeat, tongue, and truffles, seasoned with salt, pepper, cloves, mace, and served with Allemande sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Saddle of Lamb, a LA Dauphlne

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the lamb

  1. Bone the saddle of lamb and lay it on a table.

  2. Season the inside with coarse sea salt and black pepper.

  3. Line the inside with forcemeat.

  4. Place fillets of tongue and truffles on top.

  5. Fold the saddle over to encase the forcemeat.

  6. Secure its shape by binding it in a buttered napkin.

  7. Tie the ends of the napkin with string.

Roast

  1. Place the saddle in an oval roasting pan.

  2. Cover with bones and trimmings.

  3. Garnish with parsley, cloves, and mace.

  4. Moisten with enough stock to cover the lamb halfway.

  5. Roast in a moderate oven (350°F / 175°C) for about two hours.

  6. Once done, place it on a dish.

Finish and serve

  1. Untie the napkin.

  2. Fold the saddle tightly again.

  3. Fasten the ends.

  4. Cover with a well-seasoned reduced Allemande sauce, allowing it to set.

  5. Egg the sauce over.

  6. Cover with finely grated breadcrumbs.

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

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

  2. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Parsley + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,768 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Clove + macetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,400 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  5. Veal + truffletop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together815 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

Lamb saddle
Forms the main meat, which is shaped and roasted to tender, juicy slices.
Forcemeat of veal or fowl
Fills the cavity, adding moisture and a soft, rich texture to the meat.
Butter
Enriches the napkin wrapping, adding fat that helps the surface brown and hold its shape.
Good stock
Moistens the pan so the lamb cooks gently and the drippings add savory flavor.
Truffles
Adds a concentrated earthy aroma to the stuffing.

The step that matters

Roast in a moderate oven. Roasting at a moderate temperature cooks the lamb through while the forcemeat heats gently, helping the meat stay juicy rather than dry and tough.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lamb, pepper, veal, truffle, butter, parsley, clove):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Marjoramfits better
  3. Nutmegfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lamb, pepper, veal, truffle, butter, parsley, clove. 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.

You might also like

Veal PattiesVeal Patties50 recipesBeef, Mutton, or Veal BrothBeef, Mutton, or Veal Broth6 recipesTomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipesBrown BreadBrown Bread461 recipes