Why it works: Beef and pork match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,690 recipes. Both carry 12-methyltridecanal, which smells tallowy, beefy. The science ↓
Saddle of Lamb
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 the saddle of lamb by trimming excess fat. Season with salt and pepper.
Roast in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 1 hour, or until the internal temperature reaches 145°F (63°C).
Let rest for 10 minutes before carving.
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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Beef + porktop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,690 recipes
Shared aroma: 12-methyltridecanal (tallowy, beefy).
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Lamb + beeftop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together896 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
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Lamb + porktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together623 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
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Lamb + muttontop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together598 recipes
Shared aroma: trans,trans-2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
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Mutton + beeftop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,373 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Saddle of lamb
- Is the main cut of meat, so it provides the dish's flavour and texture.
The step that matters
Roasting to the target internal temperature. Meat continues to rise in temperature after leaving the oven, and overcooking dries out the lean muscle. Checking the internal temperature with a thermometer helps hit the target and keeps the meat juicy.
“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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