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Lamb, Roll of

A rolled mixture of minced lamb and bacon, seasoned and baked with a flour crust.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,973 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Lamb, Roll of

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the meat

  1. Mince the lamb and bacon very finely.

  2. Mix in the white pepper, lemon rind, nutmeg, shallot, thyme, and salt.

Shape and bake

  1. Shape the mixture into a neat roll.

  2. Cover the roll with buttered paper and a thick crust made of flour and water.

  3. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 2 hours.

Serve

  1. Remove the crust and paper, and serve on a hot dish with sauce and vegetables.

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 + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,973 recipes

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

  2. Shallot + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,476 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Nutmeg + thymetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,907 recipes

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

  4. Nutmeg + shallottop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,019 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,318 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Lean lamb
Forms the main body of the roll and provides its meaty structure and flavor.
Fat bacon
Adds fat that keeps the minced meat moist and tender as it bakes.
Shallot
Adds a mild, savory sweetness and aroma to the meat mixture.
White pepper
Contributes gentle warm heat and aroma to the seasoned meat.

The step that matters

Covering the roll with the flour and water crust. The crust and buttered paper hold in moisture while the lean meat bakes, so the roll should be sealed well before it goes into the oven.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lamb, lemon, nutmeg, shallot, thyme, butter, flour):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Marjoramfits better
  3. Capersfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lamb, lemon, nutmeg, shallot, thyme, butter, flour. 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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