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Quar Tees of Lamb Boasted

A roasted quarter of lamb seasoned with butter, cayenne pepper, lemon juice, and bread crumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

Quar Tees of Lamb Boasted

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the joint

  1. Remove the scrag joint from the shoulder.

  2. Saw off the chine-bone and breast bone.

  3. Joint the meat thoroughly.

  4. Crack the ribs in the middle.

  5. Cut off the thick skin covering the lower part of the breast.

  6. Break the shoulder bone to allow the knuckle to twist around.

  7. Secure the knuckle in place with a skewer from beneath the breast up to the knuckle.

  8. Insert 2 large skewers at the thin end.

  9. Pass the spit between the skewers and the ribs through the thick part at the shoulder.

  10. Cover the thin end with double thickness of paper.

Roast

  1. Roast the quarter whole, raising the shoulder at the table or when dished.

  2. Top the meat with a slice of fresh butter, a sprinkle of cayenne pepper, and the juice of a lemon.

  3. Cover with oiled paper.

  4. Remove it when half done.

  5. Baste the meat with oil or yolk of egg and sprinkle with bread crumbs.

  6. Roast closer to the fire for a fine brown.

  7. Serve with a sprinkle of lemon juice.

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 + lemontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  2. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

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

  4. Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  5. Lamb + breadtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together598 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Lamb fore quarter
Forms the main body of the dish, cooking as one whole joint.
Fresh butter
Adds fat and moisture to the surface, helping it brown and taste rich.
Oil or yolk of egg
Basting coat that helps the surface take on an even golden colour.
Bread crumbs
Forms a crisp, browned crust on the outside of the meat.

The step that matters

Roast closer to the fire for a fine brown. Moving the joint nearer the heat only after the paper is removed lets the surface brown. Too early, or with the paper still on, the meat steams and the crust stays pale.

“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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