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Hind-quarter of Lamb

A roasted hind quarter of lamb seasoned with dripping, butter, salt, pepper, and served with peas and mint sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and watercress work together. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 983 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Hind-quarter of Lamb

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Remove any discolored veiny parts from the neck portion of the lamb.

  3. Cover the joint with melted dripping and place any fat pieces on top.

Roast

  1. Roast in the oven, basting every 10 to 15 minutes.

  2. Cook for 15 minutes per pound.

Finish and serve

  1. Once cooked, cut around the shoulder and lift it slightly from the neck.

  2. Insert 2 ounces of maitre d’hotel butter into the joint.

  3. Transfer to a hot dish and garnish with green peas.

  4. Serve with hot mint sauce and gravy on the side.

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 + watercresstop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together983 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

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

  3. Watercress + peastop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together60 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  5. Lamb + peastop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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
Provides the main meat, whose fat and connective tissue soften and flavour the joint as it roasts.
Melted dripping
Coats the surface so it browns and stays moist during roasting.
Maitre d’hotel butter
Melts into the cut joint, adding richness and moisture to the meat.

The step that matters

Cooking time per pound. A time set per pound is only a guide, since the joint's shape, bone and starting temperature change how long it really takes. Judging doneness by the thickest part of the meat is more reliable than the clock alone.

Swap the peas

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

  1. Sesamefits better
  2. Beansfits better
  3. Lentilsfits better
  4. Peasthe original

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