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Preparations of Lamb

A method for roasting hindquarter, forequarter, and leg of lamb, seasoned with butter, orange juice, parsley, and served with green mint sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Mint and parsley are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,198 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Preparations 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.

Prepare

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

  2. Treat the cavity with butter and orange juice.

Roast the lamb

  1. Roast the hindquarter of lamb for 1 hour and 15 minutes to 2 hours, basting regularly.

  2. Roast the forequarter of lamb for about 2 hours.

  3. Roast the leg of lamb for 1 to 1.5 hours.

  4. Sprinkle the lamb with finely-minced parsley before it is done.

Carve and serve

  1. Carve the shoulder of lamb.

  2. Serve with green mint 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. Mint + parsleytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,198 recipes

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

  2. Orange + minttop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together549 recipes

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

  3. Orange + parsleytop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together680 recipes

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

  4. Lamb + parsleytop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,322 recipes

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

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

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

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, which becomes tender and juicy during long, slow roasting.
Butter
Adds fat and richness to the cavity, carrying flavour and helping the meat brown.
Orange juice
Adds acidity and a bright, fruity sweetness that balances the richness of the lamb.

The step that matters

Basting the hindquarter. Regular basting moistens the surface as it roasts, helping keep the meat juicy and encouraging even browning over the long cooking time.

Swap the orange

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

  1. Lemonfits better
  2. Limefits better
  3. Avocadofits better
  4. Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lamb, butter, mint, sauce, parsley. 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.

More roasted lamb recipes

Quarter 11Shoulder 11Forequarter 9Saddle 6Hind Quarter 4Ribs 4 See all 9 →

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