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Lamb, Hind-quarter of

A roasted hind quarter of lamb, wrapped in oiled paper, basted with dripping, floured and browned before serving with gravy, mint sauce, and lemon.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Mint and lemon 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 ↓

Lamb, Hind-quarter of

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Saw off the knuckle-bone from the hind-quarter of lamb.

  2. Wrap the joint in oiled or buttered paper.

  3. Insert a roasting hook through the shank end.

Roast

  1. Place the joint before a clear fire.

  2. Baste frequently with good dripping.

  3. Twenty minutes before removing, dredge a little flour over the joint and brown it nicely.

Serve

  1. Transfer the joint to a hot dish and serve with 2–3 tablespoons of gravy.

  2. Serve mint sauce and a cut lemon on the side.

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. Mint + lemontop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,998 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Flour + lemontop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30,404 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + saucetop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,078 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Lamb + flourtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,402 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Lamb hind-quarter
Forms the main body of the dish, cooking to tender meat over sustained heat.
Good dripping
Adds moisture and fat during basting, helping the surface stay juicy and flavourful.
Flour
Dusted on near the end, it helps the surface brown and form a crisp crust.
Gravy
Adds moisture and savoury flavour to the sliced meat at serving.
Lemon
Adds acidity that brightens the rich flavour of the lamb.

The step that matters

Dredging with flour and browning the joint. Flour applied too early can burn before the meat is done, while applied too late it will not brown. Timing it about twenty minutes before removal lets the surface brown evenly and form a crust without scorching.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lamb, flour, mint, sauce):

  1. Limefits better
  2. Lemonthe original
  3. Avocadofits about as well
  4. Raisinfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against lamb, flour, mint, 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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