Name: Shoulder of Lamb
Ingredients: shoulder of lamb; potatoes; green peas; spinach; other suitable vegetables

Why it works: Potato and spinach work together. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 646 recipes. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓

Shoulder of Lamb

Ingredients

Directions

Roast or bake the shoulder of lamb until cooked through.
Serve with potatoes, green peas, spinach, and any other suitable vegetables.

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.

Potato + spinachtop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together646 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Peas + spinachtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together550 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Potato + peastop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,016 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Lamb + potatotop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together520 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
Lamb + spinachtop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together300 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).