Name: Lamb’s Feet, with Asparagus Peas
Ingredients: 12 lamb’s feet; sheets of bacon; 2 lemons; ½ pint second stock; asparagus peas; beshemell sauce

Why it works: Asparagus and peas match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 808 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Lamb’s Feet, with Asparagus Peas

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the feet

Remove the worm from between the hoof of each lamb’s foot and loosen the skin from the shank bone.
Place the lamb’s feet in cold water and boil until the shank bone can be easily removed.

Braise

Cover the bottom of a stewpan with bacon, add the lamb’s feet, sliced lemons, and second stock.
Cover the feet with bacon and paper, then simmer gently for 1 hour.
Remove the feet and let them dry on a clean cloth, then arrange them on a serving dish.

Serve with the sides

Cook the asparagus peas in just enough stock to cover them until the stock is reduced.
Prepare the béchamel sauce and keep it warm without boiling.

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.

Asparagus + peastop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together808 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Lemon + asparagustop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together704 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Lamb + asparagustop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together207 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
Lemon + peastop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,005 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Lamb + peastop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together650 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Lamb’s feet: Provide the gelatinous connective tissue that gives the dish its rich, sticky body after slow cooking.
Bacon: Lines the pan and covers the feet, adding savoury, smoky flavour and moisture during simmering.
Second stock: Supplies liquid for gentle simmering and carries flavour into the feet and the peas.
Lemons: Add acidity and brightness that balances the richness of the braised meat.
Béchamel sauce: Its flour-thickened butter and milk base adds a smooth, creamy body to the dish.

The step that matters

Simmer gently, do not boil. Boiling the feet toughens the meat and can break up the tender skin and tissue, while a gentle simmer lets collagen slowly convert to soft gelatin. The béchamel also needs gentle heat, because high heat can scorch the flour base or cause it to separate and lump.