Name: Sadelz Ov Lamb
Ingredients: 1 saddle of lamb; coarse sea salt; mint sauce; fresh salad; peas; cauliflowers; spinach

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 ↓

Sadelz Ov Lamb

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare a clear, brisk fire.
Place the lamb joint at a distance from the fire to prevent the fat from burning.
Baste the lamb constantly while it cooks.
Serve with mint sauce and a fresh salad.
Accompany with peas, cauliflowers, or spinach.

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.

Mint + peastop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,137 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Cauliflower + spinachtop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together117 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).
Peas + cauliflowertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together313 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Peas + spinachtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together550 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Lamb + spinachtop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together300 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

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

Swap the mint

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

Capersfits better
Garlicfits better
Turmericfits better
Mintthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lamb, sauce, peas, cauliflower, spinach. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.