Why it works: Carrot and turnip match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,002 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
Leg of Lamb
Ingredients
Directions
Roast, bake, or boil the leg of lamb.
If roasting, serve similarly to roast shoulder of lamb.
If boiling, serve with Bechamel or maitre d'hotel sauce.
Accompany with suitable vegetables like carrots, turnips, and potatoes.
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.
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Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,002 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Carrot + potatotop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,107 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
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Turnip + potatotop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together562 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Lamb + potatotop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together520 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
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Lamb + carrottop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together724 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
- Leg of lamb
- Forms the main protein of the dish, providing the bulk of the meal.
- Bechamel sauce
- Adds creamy moisture and richness that complements boiled lamb.
- Maitre d'hotel sauce
- Adds a buttery, herbed moisture that complements boiled lamb.
- Carrots
- Add sweetness and colour as a side vegetable.
- Turnips
- Add a mildly sweet, earthy flavour as a side vegetable.
- Potatoes
- Add starch and bulk as a side vegetable.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lamb, sauce, carrot, turnip):
- Parsnipfits better
- Leekfits better
- Beetrootfits better
- Potatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against lamb, sauce, carrot, turnip. 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.
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