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Roast Shoulder of Lamb

A roasted leg of lamb seasoned with flour and sea salt, served with mint sauce and salad.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Roast Shoulder of Lamb

Ingredients

Directions

Roast

  1. Place the leg of lamb some distance from the fire.

  2. Baste it frequently.

  3. Shortly before done, move it nearer to the fire.

  4. Dredge the lamb with flour and a little coarse sea salt.

  5. Baste with melted butter for a frothy appearance.

Make the gravy

  1. Empty the dripping pan.

  2. Add hot water to the pan and stir well.

  3. Pour the gravy over the meat through a fine sieve.

Serve

  1. Serve with mint sauce and a salad.

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. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Lamb + minttop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together772 recipes

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

  3. Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together15,338 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Lamb + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Flour + saucetop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,078 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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 meat that is slowly roasted until tender and juicy.
Flour
Coats the surface, helping it brown and form a crust.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, and basting with it promotes browning and a glossy finish.

The step that matters

Shortly before done, move it nearer to the fire.. Moving the lamb closer only at the end lets the surface brown and crisp without overcooking the interior. Moving it too early risks a dry, burnt exterior before the centre is done.

Swap the mint

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lamb, flour, butter, sauce):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Jalapenofits better
  3. Parsleyfits better
  4. Mintthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lamb, flour, butter, sauce. 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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