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Breast of Lamb, Stuffed

A braised lamb breast stuffed with veal forcemeat and vegetables, served with French beans and sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Why it works: Beans and carrot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,443 recipes. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓

Breast of Lamb, Stuffed

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the lamb

  1. Remove the bones from the lamb.

  2. Flatten the meat with a rolling pin.

  3. Season the lamb with salt and pepper.

  4. Spread the veal forcemeat on top of the lamb.

  5. Roll up the meat tightly.

  6. Bind the roll securely with string.

Braise

  1. Slice the vegetables.

  2. Place the sliced vegetables in a large stewpan with butter or fat.

  3. Place the rolled meat on top of the vegetables.

  4. Cover the stewpan.

  5. Cook gently for about 20 minutes.

  6. Add the herbs, peppercorns, and stock to nearly cover the vegetables.

  7. Cover the meat with greased paper.

  8. Put the lid on.

  9. Braise for about 2 hours.

Cook the beans and serve

  1. Cook the French beans in salted water.

  2. Drain the beans well.

  3. Melt the butter or fat in a stewpan.

  4. Add the beans to the stewpan.

  5. Season with salt and pepper.

  6. Toss over the fire for a few minutes.

  7. Serve the beans arranged in small groups around the dish.

  8. Send the sauce to the table in a sauceboat.

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. Beans + carrottop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,443 recipes

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

  2. Pepper + carrottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,555 recipes

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

  3. Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

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

  4. Beans + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,242 recipes

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

  5. Beans + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,733 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Lamb breast
Forms the main meat that becomes tender during long, slow braising.
Veal forcemeat
Adds a moist, savoury filling that stays juicy inside the rolled meat.
Butter or good fat
Adds richness and helps the vegetables brown gently in the stewpan.
Onions
Release sweetness and flavour into the braising liquid as they soften.
Carrots
Add sweetness and aroma to the braising liquid.
Brown or demi-glace sauce
Provides a rich, savoury sauce to serve alongside the meat.

The step that matters

Braise for about 2 hours. Long, gentle cooking in liquid breaks down the connective tissue in the lamb, making it tender. Boiling or rushing it leaves the meat tough, so keep the heat low and the liquid only gently simmering.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Tomatofits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Asparagusfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lamb, sauce, veal, beans, butter, pepper, carrot. 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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