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Glazed Shoulder of Lamb and Mint Sauce

A shoulder of lamb roasted, basted, glazed and served with mint sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Lamb and mint work together. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 772 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Glazed Shoulder of Lamb and Mint Sauce

Oven, in the book's wordsA brisk oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare

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

  2. Roast the lamb in a double roasting pan with water in the lower tin.

  3. Sprinkle the lamb with salt and spread dripping over it.

Roast

  1. Roast for about 1 hour, basting frequently to keep it moist.

  2. Turn the joint to cook both sides evenly.

Glaze and serve

  1. Cut 1 tablespoon of glaze into small dice and melt it over low heat with a little water.

  2. Brush the melted glaze over the shoulder of lamb.

  3. Garnish with watercress or parsley before serving.

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 + minttop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together772 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Lamb + saucetop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together925 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanoic acid (soapy, waxy).

  3. Mint + saucetop 32% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together568 recipes

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

What each ingredient does

Shoulder of lamb
Forms the main meat that becomes tender and juicy during slow roasting.
Dripping
Fat that coats the surface, promoting even browning and helping keep the meat moist.

The step that matters

Basting frequently during the roast. Spooning pan juices and fat over the lamb replaces surface moisture that evaporates in the oven. This keeps the meat from drying out and helps the outside brown evenly.

Swap the mint

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

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Garlicfits better
  3. Cuminfits better
  4. Mintthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lamb, 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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