Name: To Roast a Leg of Lamb
Ingredients: 1 leg of lamb; mint sauce; 1 egg yolk; bread crumbs; lemon juice

Why it works: Mint and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,998 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

To Roast a Leg 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.

Choose a plump and juicy leg of lamb.
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Roast the leg for 1.5 hours, basting frequently.
Before serving, mix the egg yolk with the gravy and baste the meat.
Sprinkle bread crumbs over the leg and allow it to brown.
Squeeze lemon juice over the meat and serve with 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.

Mint + lemontop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,998 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Lamb + minttop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together772 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together22,662 recipes

Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Lamb + breadtop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together598 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
Mint + breadtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together244 recipes

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