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Stuffed Leg of Lamb

A leg of lamb stuffed with bread crumbs, mushrooms, herbs, and sherry, then baked.

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 ↓

Stuffed Leg of Lamb

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

Make the stuffing

  1. In a bowl, combine bread crumbs, chopped mushrooms, salt, pepper, parsley, and moisten with sherry wine.

  2. Stuff the mixture into the leg of lamb.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake for 20 minutes per pound, basting frequently.

  2. Serve with brown gravy.

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. Mushroom + sherrytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,176 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol (smoky, clove).

  3. Mushroom + winetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,632 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-propylphenol (allspice, anise).

  4. Bread + mushroomtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,536 recipes

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

  5. Mushroom + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,580 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

Leg of lamb
Forms the main body of the dish, holding the stuffing while it cooks.
Dry bread crumbs
Absorb the sherry and mushroom juices, giving the stuffing a moist, binding texture.
Chopped mushrooms
Add savory, earthy flavor and moisture to the stuffing.
Sherry wine
Moistens the bread crumbs and adds a mild, aromatic sweetness.

The step that matters

Basting frequently during baking. Regular basting moistens the surface of the lamb as it cooks, helping it stay juicy and encouraging even browning. Without it, the exposed outer layer can dry out before the interior is done.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lamb, bread, mushroom, pepper, sherry, wine):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Garlicfits about as well
  3. Rosemaryfits about as well
  4. Parsleythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lamb, bread, mushroom, pepper, sherry, wine. 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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