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Breast of Lamb, with Peas

A roasted lamb breast served with fresh peas.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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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 ↓

Breast of Lamb, with Peas

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Season the lamb breast with salt and pepper.

  3. Place the lamb in a roasting pan and add butter on top.

Roast and serve

  1. Roast in the oven for about 1 hour, basting occasionally.

  2. In the last 15 minutes, add the fresh peas to the pan.

  3. Serve hot.

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. Lamb + peppertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,165 recipes

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

  2. Lamb + peastop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together650 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  3. Peas + peppertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,331 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Peas + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,887 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Lamb breast
Provides the main protein, which becomes tender and juicy during slow roasting.
Fresh peas
Add sweetness and a fresh, green flavour, and cook quickly in the pan juices.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, helping the meat brown and stay moist while it roasts.

The step that matters

Adding the fresh peas in the last 15 minutes. Fresh peas cook quickly and turn dull and mushy if left in the oven too long. Adding them late keeps them bright green and tender-crisp while they absorb the pan juices.

Swap the peas

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lamb, pepper, butter):

  1. Almondfits better
  2. Beansfits better
  3. Sesamefits about as well
  4. Peasthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lamb, pepper, butter. 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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