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Saddle of Lamb, a LA Dauphine

A stuffed saddle of lamb braised with veal or fowl forcemeat, tongue fillets, truffles, and aromatic vegetables.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,173 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Saddle of Lamb, a LA Dauphine

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the saddle

  1. Bone the saddle of lamb.

  2. Season the inside with pepper and salt.

  3. Line the saddle with quenelle forcemeat.

  4. Add fillets of tongue and truffles.

  5. Fold the skirts of the saddle over the filling to encase it.

  6. Spread butter on a napkin.

  7. Wrap the saddle tightly.

  8. Tie the ends with twine.

Braise

  1. Place the wrapped saddle in an oval braising pan on a drainer.

  2. Cover the saddle with bones and trimmings.

  3. Garnish with carrot, onion, celery, parsley, cloves, and mace.

  4. Moisten the saddle with enough stock to cover it.

  5. Braise gently on moderate heat for about 2.5 hours.

Finish and serve

  1. Place the lamb on a dish.

  2. Untie the napkin.

  3. Fold the saddle tightly.

  4. Press the saddle between two dishes until nearly cold.

  5. Trim neatly.

  6. Cover with a well-seasoned reduced Allemande sauce.

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 + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

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

  4. Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

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

  5. Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Lamb saddle
Forms the main body of the dish, becoming tender and moist during gentle braising.
Quenelle forcemeat of veal or fowl
Forms a soft, delicate layer that surrounds the filling and adds richness.
Fillets of tongue
Adds a tender, meaty texture inside the wrapped saddle.
Truffles
Contribute a deep, earthy aroma to the filling.
Butter
Adds fat that enriches the wrapping and helps keep the meat moist.
Good stock
Provides liquid for gentle braising, adding savoury flavour and moisture.

The step that matters

Braise gently on moderate heat. Low, steady heat with enough liquid breaks down the connective tissue slowly, keeping the lamb tender and moist rather than dry and tough.

Swap the onion

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against lamb, pepper, veal, truffle, butter, carrot, celery. 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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