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Foke Qtjarter of Lamb

A whole lamb roasted on a grill, basted with egg yolk and gravy, topped with breadcrumbs and lemon juice, served with mint sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and mint are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,998 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Foke Qtjarter of Lamb

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Preheat your grill to a clear, even fire.

  2. Cover the lamb with a large sheet of buttered paper and place it on the grill.

Cook and finish

  1. Cook until nearly done, then remove the paper and bacon.

  2. Baste the meat with a mixture of egg yolk and gravy.

  3. Sprinkle more bread crumbs over the lamb and let it brown nicely.

  4. Squeeze lemon juice over the lamb before serving.

  5. Serve with mint 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. Lemon + minttop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,998 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

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

  3. Lamb + minttop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together772 recipes

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

  4. Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (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 dish and cooks to tender, juicy meat over the grill.
Egg yolk
Mixed with gravy to baste the meat, adding richness and helping the surface take on color.
Bread crumbs
Sprinkled on top to form a crisp, browned crust.
Bacon
Covers the meat during cooking, adding fat that keeps the lamb moist.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the rich flavor of the lamb.

The step that matters

Remove the paper and bacon near the end of cooking. The paper and bacon protect the meat while it cooks through. Removing them too early can dry the lamb, while leaving them on too long stops the surface from browning, so timing matters.

Swap the mint

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lamb, butter, egg, bread, lemon, sauce):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Capersfits better
  3. Nutmegfits better
  4. Mintthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lamb, butter, egg, bread, lemon, sauce. 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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