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Lamb or Mutton Roasted

A roasted lamb or mutton leg or loin, rubbed with flour, butter, and sea salt, cooked with boiling water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Lamb or Mutton Roasted

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the roast

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

  2. Place the roast in a dripping pan and rub it all over with flour.

  3. Dot the top with bits of butter and add a lump in the pan.

  4. Add a little boiling water and salt the roast.

Roast

  1. Roast for 30 minutes or until it begins to brown.

  2. Baste frequently.

  3. Turn the roast halfway through cooking if not covered.

  4. Cook for 15 to 20 minutes per pound, keeping enough water in the pan for basting.

Serve

  1. Once done, transfer to a hot platter.

  2. Make the gravy thick enough to serve. Add water or flour as needed. Stir to prevent burning.

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. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

    Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Lamb
Forms the meat that is roasted, and its fat and juices flavour the dish.
Flour
Rubbed on the surface, it helps the outside brown and thickens the gravy.
Butter
Dotted over the top, it adds fat that promotes browning and richness.
Boiling water
Added to the pan, it keeps moisture for basting and forms the base of the gravy.

The step that matters

Keep enough water in the pan for basting. Without liquid in the pan the drippings can scorch and the surface dries out. Basting moistens the meat and promotes even browning while it roasts.

“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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