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Shoulder of Lamb Grilled

Grilled lamb shoulder served with a sauce of butter, ketchup, and lemon.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Shoulder of Lamb Grilled

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the lamb

  1. Boil the shoulder of lamb and score it in 1-inch squares.

  2. Rub the scored lamb with the egg yolk, then season with pepper and coarse sea salt.

  3. Strew bread crumbs and dried parsley or sweet herbs over the lamb.

Cook and serve

  1. Grill the lamb over a clear fire or in a Dutch oven until light brown.

  2. Serve with gravy or a sauce made from flour and water mixed with butter, mushroom or walnut ketchup, and 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 + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  3. Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  4. Bread + mushroomtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,536 recipes

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

  5. Pepper + mushroomtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,580 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Shoulder of lamb
Provides the main meat, which becomes tender through boiling before grilling.
Egg yolk
Acts as a binder so the bread crumbs and herbs stick to the scored surface.
Bread crumbs
Form a crisp, golden crust on the outside of the lamb as it cooks.
Fresh butter
Adds richness and fat to the savory sauce, helping it feel smooth and full.
Mushroom or walnut ketchup
Adds deep, savory umami flavor to the sauce.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the rich lamb and butter sauce.

The step that matters

Grill until light brown. Grilling over a clear fire or in a Dutch oven browns the crumb crust through Maillard reactions. Too little heat leaves it pale and soft, while too much can scorch the crumbs before the lamb is cooked through.

“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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