Name: Lamb, Braised
Ingredients: shoulder of lamb; veal forcemeat; spinach or sorrel

Why it works: Lamb and spinach work together. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 300 recipes. Both carry 2-undecenal, which smells sweet. The science ↓

Lamb, Braised

Ingredients

shoulder of lamb
veal forcemeat
spinach or sorrel

Directions

Bone the shoulder of lamb and fill the opening with veal forcemeat.
Skewer it securely.
Braise the lamb for two hours over low heat.
Serve on a bed of spinach or sorrel.

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.

Lamb + spinachtop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together300 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
Lamb + vealtop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together568 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
Veal + spinachtop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together261 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).