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Loin of Lamb Stewed in Butter

A lamb joint stewed slowly in butter, served with optional sauces and salad.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Lamb and asparagus work together. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 207 recipes. Both carry 2,4-nonadienal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Loin of Lamb Stewed in Butter

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the lamb

  1. Wash the lamb joint and dry it thoroughly.

  2. Skewer down the flank.

Cook

  1. Place it in a thick saucepan with the melted butter (do not boil).

  2. Simmer slowly over low heat for 2 hours and 15 minutes, turning it when it is slightly more than half done.

  3. Lift the lamb out.

  4. Skim the gravy.

  5. Pour it over the lamb.

Serve

  1. Serve with asparagus.

  2. Serve with cucumber.

  3. Serve with soubise sauce.

  4. Serve with brown gravy.

  5. Serve with mint sauce.

  6. Serve with a salad.

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

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

  2. Butter + asparagustop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,026 recipes

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

  3. Lamb + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. White pepper + asparagustop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together120 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).

  5. Butter + white peppertop 28% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Lamb
Forms the main body of the stew, and its connective tissue softens into tender meat during slow cooking.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture, and carries flavour while the lamb cooks gently.

The step that matters

Keep the butter from boiling. Simmering slowly over low heat keeps the butter from separating and burning, so the lamb cooks gently in a stable, rich fat rather than frying or toughening.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lamb, butter, asparagus):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Capersfits better
  3. Garlicfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lamb, butter, asparagus. 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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