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Neck or Loin of Lamb

Lamb chops seasoned with herbs, fried or braised, served with a sauce of ale, wine, capers, and egg yolks.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 17 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and marjoram match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,225 recipes. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓

Neck or Loin of Lamb

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the chops

  1. Cut the lamb into chops.

  2. Rub both sides of the chops with the egg yolk.

  3. Sprinkle the chops with bread crumbs mixed with parsley, thyme, marjoram, savory, and lemon peel.

  4. Fry the chops in butter until light brown.

  5. Place the chops in a dish.

  6. Garnish the chops with crisped parsley.

Cook and make the sauce

  1. Place the chops in a pan with ale and seasoning.

  2. Cover the pan.

  3. Cook the chops until done.

  4. Remove the chops from the pan.

  5. Keep the chops warm on a plate.

  6. Pour the pan juices into a bowl.

  7. Add white wine to the bowl.

  8. Add capers to the bowl.

  9. Add beaten egg yolks to the bowl.

  10. Add nutmeg to the bowl.

  11. Add salt to the bowl.

  12. Stir continuously until thick.

Finish and serve

  1. Add the chops back to the pan.

  2. Shake the pan for 1-2 minutes.

  3. Serve the chops in a dish.

  4. Pour the sauce over the chops.

  5. Garnish with crisped parsley and lemon.

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. Thyme + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  2. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Parsley + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,979 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. Marjoram + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together957 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

What each ingredient does

Lamb chops
The main protein, browned in butter and then gently cooked in ale until tender.
Egg yolks
Coat the chops and, when stirred into the warm juices, thicken the sauce as they set.
Bread crumbs
Form a herb crust on the chops that adds texture and helps them brown.
Butter
Fat for frying that browns the crust and adds richness.
White wine
Adds acidity and depth to the pan sauce, balancing the richness of the yolks.
Ale
Liquid for cooking the chops that adds malty flavour and moisture to the pan juices.

The step that matters

Stirring the egg yolk sauce until thick. Egg yolks thicken through gentle heat; if the mixture gets too hot or is not stirred constantly, the yolks can scramble and turn grainy instead of forming a smooth sauce.

“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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