Name: Leg of Lamb Braised, and Beshemell
Ingredients: 1 leg of lamb; force meat; sliced lemon; sheets of bacon; beshemell sauce

Why it works: Lamb and meat work together. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 469 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Leg of Lamb Braised, and Beshemell

Ingredients

Directions

Bone the leg of lamb and fill it with force meat.
Braise in a white braise for two hours.
Cover with sliced lemon and sheets of bacon.
Once done, place on a cloth to soak the fat.
Transfer to a dish and pour beshemell sauce over it.
Garnish with herbs.

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.

Lamb + meattop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together469 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Lamb + saucetop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together925 recipes

Shared aroma: decanoic acid (soapy, waxy).
Lamb + lemontop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,127 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Meat + saucetop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,167 recipes
Meat + lemontop 28% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,817 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).