Name: Roast Lamb with Sorrel-sauce
Ingredients: 1 shoulder of lamb; crumbs of bread; coarse sea salt; black pepper

Why it works: Lamb and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,165 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Roast Lamb with Sorrel-sauce

Oven, in the book's wordsA very hot oven

Ingredients

1 shoulder of lamb
crumbs of bread
coarse sea salt
black pepper

Directions

The book says “a very hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Have the bone cut from the shoulder of lamb without mangling it.
Replace the bone with seasoned bread crumbs and sew or tie the lamb to enclose the crumbs.
Place the lamb on a spit or in a pan just large enough to hold it.
Roast it before a hot fire or bake it in a very hot oven at 400°F (200°C).
When the meat is brown, season it with salt and pepper.
Cook for about 15 minutes per pound for medium well done.
While the lamb is cooking, prepare sorrel-sauce.
When the meat is done, remove the strings and serve it on the sorrel-sauce.

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 + peppertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,165 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Lamb + breadtop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together598 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
Bread + peppertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,964 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).