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Lamb's Fry

A fried lamb liver dish served with a quick gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Lamb and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,165 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Lamb's Fry

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the liver

  1. Wash the lamb's fry.

  2. Place it in a saucepan with enough cold water to cover it.

  3. Bring to a boil and cook for 2-3 minutes.

  4. Drain and dry well.

Fry the liver

  1. In a bowl, mix 2 teaspoons of flour, ¼ teaspoon of coarse sea salt, and pepper into a smooth batter with 2 tablespoons of cold water.

  2. Add the beaten egg.

  3. Heat the clarified fat in a frying pan.

  4. Dip the pieces of fry in the batter and fry gently until nicely browned on both sides, being careful not to overcook the liver.

  5. Prepare a very hot dish to keep the fry warm while making the gravy.

Make the gravy

  1. Use the fat in the pan or pour it away and use 1 oz of butter instead.

  2. Stir 1 tablespoon of flour into the fat, and when browned, pour in the hot water.

  3. Stir and boil for five minutes, then season to taste.

  4. Serve the gravy around the dish or separately 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. Lamb + peppertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,165 recipes

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

  2. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Lamb + flourtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,402 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).

  5. Lamb + eggtop 27% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,204 recipes

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

Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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

What each ingredient does

Lamb's fry
Forms the main dish; its tender texture is the centre of the recipe.
Flour
Forms the batter that coats the liver and the base of the gravy, thickening it as it browns.
Egg
Binds the batter so it adheres to the liver and fries to a crisp coating.
Clarified fat or dripping
Conducts heat for frying and gives the liver a rich, browned surface.

The step that matters

Fry the liver gently. Lamb's liver turns dry and grainy when overcooked, because its proteins tighten under prolonged high heat. Gentle frying until just browned keeps it tender and moist inside.

“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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