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Saddle of Lamb, a LA Macedoine

Braised lamb saddle served with a macédoine of vegetables in Allemande sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,555 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Saddle of Lamb, a LA Macedoine

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the lamb

  1. Bone, stuff, and braise the saddle of lamb as directed.

  2. Warm and glaze the lamb.

Garnish and serve

  1. Dish it up and garnish with a rich macédoine of vegetables tossed in Allemande sauce.

  2. Surround the lamb with a border of artichoke bottoms or small turnips cut into cups, boiled in white broth with sugar and salt.

  3. Fill the cups half with green peas and the remainder with small glazed carrots.

  4. Glaze the lamb again and serve.

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. Carrot + peppertop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,555 recipes

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

  2. Peas + carrottop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,994 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  3. Butter + parmesan cheesetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,163 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Lamb + peppertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,165 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Sugar + saucetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,147 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Saddle of lamb
Forms the main meat, which is braised until tender and then glazed.
Green peas
Add sweetness and a soft texture to the vegetable garnish.
Small carrots
Add sweetness and color to the vegetable garnish once glazed.
Butter
Adds richness and a glossy finish to the vegetables.

The step that matters

Glaze the lamb again and serve. A glaze of sugar and reduced stock sets into a shiny coating only when kept warm and applied just before serving. Too much heat makes it darken, scorch, or turn sticky, which spoils the finish.

Swap the peas

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lamb, sugar, carrot, butter, parmesan cheese, sauce, pepper):

  1. Beansfits better
  2. Sesamefits about as well
  3. Chickpeafits about as well
  4. Peasthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lamb, sugar, carrot, butter, parmesan cheese, sauce, pepper. 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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