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Breast of Lamb with Tomato Sauce

Tender lamb breast served with tomato sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,923 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Breast of Lamb with Tomato Sauce

Oven, in the book's wordsA very hot oven

Ingredients

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.

Prepare

  1. Boil the breast of lamb until tender, then remove the bones.

  2. Prepare this a day in advance if possible.

Coat and bake

  1. Half an hour before serving, season the lamb with egg and breadcrumbs.

  2. Place the lamb in a well-greased bag, seal it, and bake in a very hot oven at 400°F (200°C) for 20 minutes.

Serve

  1. Serve with tomato 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.

  1. Pepper + tomatotop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

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

  2. Lamb + tomatotop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together979 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together15,338 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Tomato + saucetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together5,469 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Butter and sauce barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 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

Breast of lamb
The main meat; boiling until tender gives it a soft texture before baking.
Egg
Binds the breadcrumbs so they stick to the surface of the lamb.
Breadcrumbs
Form the coating that sets and crisps in the oven.
Oil or melted butter
Adds fat that helps the coating and surface brown and taste rich.
Tomato sauce
Adds acidity and moisture that cut through the rich lamb.

The step that matters

Coat the lamb close to baking time. The egg and breadcrumb coating can soften and lose its hold if it sits too long before baking. The very hot oven sets the coating quickly, helping it stay on the meat.

Swap the tomato

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

  1. Asparagusfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Spinachfits about as well
  4. Tomatothe original

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