Skip to main content
Main

Pilaff of Lamb

A baked rice dish with lamb, butter, and celery extract, served with tomato sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Pepper and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,012 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Pilaff of Lamb

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Cook the rice

  1. Boil the rice in plenty of boiling salted water for 20 minutes or until tender.

  2. Drain the rice.

Mix and bake

  1. Mix the drained rice with the finely chopped lamb, seasoning with salt, pepper, and celery extract.

  2. Add the melted butter to the mixture.

  3. Heat the mixture.

  4. Turn the rice and meat into a greased tin mold.

  5. Place in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 10 minutes or until the pilaff holds its shape when turned out.

Serve

  1. Serve with tomato 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. Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

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

  2. Rice + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,169 recipes

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

  3. Rice + lambtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together439 recipes

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

  4. Rice + peppertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,379 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Lamb + peppertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,165 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Rice
Forms the bulk of the pilaf and, once cooked and cooled, helps the mixture hold together in the mold.
Cold lamb
Provides the main meat flavour and body of the dish.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture, coating the rice and meat for a softer texture.

The step that matters

Baking until the pilaf holds its shape. Baking firms the rice and meat mixture and sets the butter, so the pilaf keeps its shape when turned out. Pulling it too early can leave it crumbly and unable to hold its form.

Swap the celery

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, lamb, butter, pepper):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Cinnamonfits better
  3. Turmericfits better
  4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rice, lamb, butter, pepper. 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.

You might also like

Cream of Celery SoupCream of Celery Soup113 recipesRice FrittersRice Fritters84 recipesSteamed RiceSteamed Rice48 recipesRice Griddle CakesRice Griddle Cakes28 recipes