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Tureen of Lambs Tails

A soup of lamb's tails, lean ham, fowls, onions, herbs, mace, stock, asparagus peas, egg yolks, cream, and béchamel.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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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 ↓

Tureen of Lambs Tails

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the stock

  1. Blanch the lamb's tails and place them in a small soup pot.

  2. In a stewpan, layer with lean ham, chopped old fowls, onions, herbs, and mace.

  3. Add water and simmer slowly for 1 hour, ensuring it doesn't catch on the bottom.

  4. Add stock and boil slowly for 1 hour, then strain and skim off fat.

Finish the soup

  1. Boil asparagus peas in some of the stock, then add to the lamb's tails.

  2. In a bowl, mix egg yolks with boiled cream, then strain and combine with béchamel.

  3. Remove soup from heat and stir in the liaison, then return to heat until it begins to boil, stirring constantly.

  4. If not serving immediately, keep the soup warm in a pot of hot water.

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. Asparagus + peastop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together808 recipes

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

  2. Lamb + asparagustop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together207 recipes

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

  3. Onion + asparagustop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,212 recipes

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

  4. Onion + peastop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,460 recipes

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

  5. 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

Egg yolks
Thicken the cream and béchamel into a smooth, rich liaison as they set on gentle heat.
Cream
Adds richness and a smooth, silky texture to the finished soup.
Béchamel
Adds body and a creamy texture, helping thicken the soup.
Lambs tails
Provide the main meaty flavour and gelatinous body from slow simmering.
Old fowls
Add deep savoury flavour and body to the stock during long simmering.

The step that matters

Stirring the liaison back into the soup. Egg yolks can curdle if the soup is too hot or boils after they are added. Stirring constantly and heating only until it just begins to boil keeps the liaison smooth and thickened.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lamb, ham, onion, asparagus, peas, egg, cream):

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Capersfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lamb, ham, onion, asparagus, peas, egg, cream. 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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