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Roast Quarter of Lamb

A roasted quarter of lamb coated with bacon, butter, breadcrumbs, salt, pepper, and parsley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Roast Quarter of Lamb

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Trim the joint of the lamb.

  2. Skewer 3 slices of bacon to the outside.

  3. Spread the inner side with butter.

  4. Cover with fine bread crumbs seasoned with salt, pepper, and minced parsley to taste.

Roast and serve

  1. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C).

  2. When nearly done, remove the bacon and cover with more bread crumbs.

  3. Bake long enough to brown nicely.

  4. Serve with sauce or lemon juice, as preferred.

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 + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Lamb + parsleytop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,322 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

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

  5. Lamb + breadtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together598 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Lamb
Forms the main body of the roast, providing the meat that cooks through in the oven.
Bacon
Bastes the lamb from outside as it renders fat, adding moisture and savory flavor.
Butter
Adds fat that helps the bread crumbs brown and keeps the surface from drying out.
Fine bread crumbs
Form a crust that absorbs fat and browns in the oven, adding texture to the surface.

The step that matters

Removing the bacon and adding more bread crumbs. Timing matters: removing the bacon when nearly done prevents it from overcooking, and the fresh crumbs then have time to brown without burning.

“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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