Name: Lamb Cutlets with Asparagus Peas
Ingredients: Neck of lamb, cut into cutlets; Clarified butter; Coarse sea salt; Consomme; Stewed asparagus peas

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 ↓

Lamb Cutlets with Asparagus Peas

Ingredients

Directions

Trim the lamb cutlets neatly and place them in a cutlet pan with clarified butter and a sprinkle of coarse sea salt.
Start cooking on high heat, then reduce to low heat, adding a small ladleful of consomme.
Shake the pan occasionally to help the cutlets glaze.
Once well glazed, arrange the cutlets neatly on a serving dish.
Pour the stewed asparagus peas in the center of the dish.

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.

Asparagus + peastop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together808 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Lamb + asparagustop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together207 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
Lamb + peastop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together650 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
Butter + peastop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,887 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Butter + asparagustop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,026 recipes

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