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Spring Lamb

Roasted lamb, typically two months old, cooked with butter, lemon, salt, pepper, and served with mint sauce and vegetables.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Mary Ronald · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

Spring Lamb

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Divide the lamb into fore and hind quarters.

Roast

  1. Roast the lamb in a hot oven with a little water in the pan.

  2. Allow fifteen to eighteen minutes per pound.

  3. Baste the lamb frequently while roasting.

  4. Serve the lamb with mint sauce and green peas or asparagus tips.

Dress and carve

  1. If using a fore quarter, crack the bones well.

  2. Optionally remove the shoulder blade.

  3. Cut around the shoulder bone for dressing.

  4. Place two tablespoonfuls of butter, lemon juice, salt, and pepper under the shoulder bone.

  5. Press the pieces together.

  6. Let stand a minute to melt the butter before carving.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

120Calories
1 gProtein
12 gFat
5 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Mary Ronald. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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. See the original page.

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 + lemontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

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

  2. Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,227 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  3. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Lamb (in the method)
Main protein; its fat renders and its meat becomes tender as it roasts.
Butter
Adds fat and moisture, helping the meat stay juicy and brown on the surface.
Lemon
Adds acidity and bright aroma that cut the richness of the roasted fat.

The step that matters

Let stand before carving. Resting lets juices redistribute through the meat instead of running out when cut, and gives the melted butter time to spread through the dressing.

“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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