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To Fricassee Lamb-stones

A fricassee of lamb sweetbreads simmered in gravy with asparagus, wine, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Asparagus and shallot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 137 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

To Fricassee Lamb-stones

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the sweetbreads

  1. Skin the sweetbreads, wash them, and parboil them.

  2. Cut the sweetbreads in half, then dry them.

  3. Flour the sweetbreads.

Fry and simmer

  1. Fry the sweetbreads in hot lard until golden brown.

  2. Pour off the excess lard.

  3. Add the gravy, asparagus, nutmeg, pepper, salt, shallots and white wine to the pan.

  4. Simmer for 10 minutes.

Finish the sauce

  1. Mix a little gravy with the beaten egg yolks.

  2. Gradually combine the egg yolk mixture with the rest of the gravy.

  3. Return the mixture to the pan.

  4. Stir until thickened without boiling.

  5. Garnish with lemon before serving.

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 + shallottop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together137 recipes

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

  2. Nutmeg + shallottop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,019 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Flour + shallottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,081 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Nutmeg + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

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

  5. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Sweetbreads
Provide the tender, meaty main body of the fricassee.
Flour
Coats the sweetbreads so they brown well and help thicken the pan sauce.
Egg yolks
Thicken the gravy into a smooth, creamy sauce when gently heated.
Gravy
Forms the liquid base of the sauce that the other ingredients are cooked in.
White wine
Adds acidity and aroma that brighten the rich sauce.
Butter
Adds fat and richness to the finished dish.

The step that matters

Stir until thickened without boiling. Egg yolks are proteins that thicken as they warm, but if the sauce boils they can curdle and turn grainy. Keep the heat gentle and stir constantly.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, oyster, asparagus, pepper, shallot, white wine, egg):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Parsleyfits better
  4. Nutmegthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, oyster, asparagus, pepper, shallot, white wine, egg. 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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