Why it works: Mint and peas are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,137 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓
Roast Lamb
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare and roast
Pour boiling water over the piece of lamb.
Sprinkle with coarse sea salt, black pepper, and flour.
Roast for 15 to 18 minutes per pound, basting frequently.
Serve
Serve with mint sauce and green peas or asparagus.
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.
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Mint + peastop 2% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,137 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Pepper + minttop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,372 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Lamb + peppertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,165 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Lamb + minttop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together772 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Lamb + peastop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together650 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Lamb
- The main protein, which browns on the outside and becomes tender as it cooks through.
- Flour
- Dusted on the surface, it helps the outside brown and gives the pan juices some body.
The step that matters
Roasting time and basting. Lamb cooks through according to its weight, so the time per pound sets how done it gets, and overcooking dries the meat. Frequent basting moistens the surface with the pan juices, which helps prevent it from drying out while it browns.
Swap the peas
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lamb, pepper, flour, mint, sauce):
- Chickpeafits better
- Lentilsfits better
- Beansfits better
- Peasthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against lamb, pepper, 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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