Name: Roast Hind-quarter of Lamb
Ingredients: Hind-quarter of lamb; Horseradish sauce; Watercresses

Why it works: Horseradish and watercress share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 66 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Roast Hind-quarter of Lamb

Ingredients

Hind-quarter of lamb
Horseradish sauce
Watercresses

Directions

Saw off the knuckle-bone from the hind-quarter of lamb.
Roast the lamb before a sharp, even fire.
When ready, place the lamb on a dish and garnish with watercresses.
Serve horseradish or mint sauce in a separate dish.

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.

Horseradish + watercresstop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together66 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Horseradish + saucetop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together775 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Lamb + watercresstop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together42 recipes

Shared aroma: geraniol (rose, geranium).
Sauce + watercresstop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together295 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Lamb + saucetop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together925 recipes

Shared aroma: decanoic acid (soapy, waxy).