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Lamb PtE

A lamb pie baked in a raised crust, finished with melted jelly and optional soaked raisins or currants.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and raisin are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12,481 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Lamb PtE

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the lamb

  1. Bone the shoulder of lamb and season it with spices.

  2. Sprinkle white sugar over the lamb, then roll it tightly.

  3. Roast the lamb for 20 minutes, basting with butter.

Assemble and bake

  1. Let the lamb cool, then cut it into slices.

  2. Squeeze lemon juice over the slices.

  3. Pack the slices in a raised crust and add soaked raisins or currants if desired.

  4. Bake for 1 hour.

  5. Pour in melted jelly.

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. Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,481 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  2. Lemon + raisintop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,742 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

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

  4. Lamb + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Shoulder of lamb
Forms the main body of the pie, and its fat keeps the meat moist as it cooks.
White sugar
Adds a little sweetness and helps the lamb brown during roasting.
Lemon
Its acidity brightens the rich lamb and balances the fat.
Butter
Adds fat and richness to the surface, promoting browning and flavor during roasting.
Raised pie crust
Encloses the lamb in a sturdy shell that holds its shape during baking.

The step that matters

Let the lamb cool before slicing and packing. Cooling firms the meat and its juices so slices hold their shape in the crust and the filling does not turn soggy or collapse during baking.

Swap the raisin

The recipe marks raisin as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lamb, sugar, butter, lemon):

  1. Orangefits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Coconutfits about as well
  4. Raisinthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lamb, sugar, butter, lemon. 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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