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Lamb S Head and Hinge

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Lamb and parsley are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,322 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Lamb S Head and Hinge

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Soak the lamb's head in cold water to keep it white.

  2. Boil the head separately until very tender.

  3. Boil the liver and lights, then cut them small.

  4. Stew the liver and lights in a little of their boiling water.

  5. Season and thicken the stew with flour and butter.

  6. Serve the mince around the boiled head.

  7. Fry the lamb's fry until beautifully colored and top with dried or fried parsley.

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 + parsleytop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,322 recipes

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

  2. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Flour + parsleytop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together16,675 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Butter + parsleytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together28,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  5. Lamb + livertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together145 recipes

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

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

Swap the parsley

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

  1. Capersfits about as well
  2. Parsleythe original
  3. Nutmegfits less well
  4. Cinnamonfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against lamb, liver, flour, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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