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Breast of Lamb, Stuffed

A braised lamb breast stuffed with veal forcemeat, served with sautéed French beans and a brown sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Beans and carrot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,443 recipes. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓

Breast of Lamb, Stuffed

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the lamb

  1. Remove the bones from the breast of lamb and flatten the meat with a rolling pin.

  2. Season the meat well with salt and pepper, then spread the veal forcemeat on top.

  3. Roll the meat tightly and bind securely with string.

Braise

  1. Slice the onions, carrots, and turnip, and place them in a large stewpan with 1 oz of butter or fat.

  2. Place the rolled meat on top of the vegetables, cover, and cook gently for about 20 minutes.

  3. Add the bouquet-garni, peppercorns, and stock to nearly cover the vegetables.

  4. Cover the meat with a greased paper and put on the lid, then braise for about 2 hours.

Prepare the beans and serve

  1. Cook the French beans in salted water, then drain well.

  2. Melt the remaining butter or fat in a stewpan, add the beans, season with salt and pepper, and toss over the fire for a few minutes.

  3. Serve the beans arranged in small groups around the dish and send the sauce to the table in a sauceboat.

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. Beans + carrottop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,443 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

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

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

  3. Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

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

  4. Beans + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,242 recipes

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

  5. Beans + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,733 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Lamb breast
Forms the main meat, which becomes tender during slow braising.
Veal forcemeat
Adds a moist, savoury filling that keeps the rolled meat juicy as it cooks.
Onions, carrots and turnip
Flavour base that sweetens the braising liquid and supports the meat.
Butter or fat
Carries flavour and helps brown the vegetables and meat at the start.
Brown or demi-glace sauce
Provides a rich, glossy sauce that adds depth and body to the plate.

The step that matters

Braising the rolled meat. Cooking gently with the lid and greased paper on keeps the liquid just simmering. Rapid boiling toughens the meat and dries the forcemeat, so the braise must stay slow and covered.

Swap the onion

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against lamb, sauce, veal, beans, butter, pepper, carrot. 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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