Why it works: Pepper and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,923 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Scalloped Lamb
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Remove the fat and skin from the cold roast lamb.
Cut the meat into small, thin slices.
Season with salt and pepper.
Cook the macaroni in boiling salted water until tender.
Rinse the macaroni thoroughly in cold water.
Prepare a brown tomato sauce.
Butter a baking dish.
Layer and bake
Layer the meat.
Layer the macaroni.
Layer the tomato sauce.
Repeat the layers until the dish is filled.
Finish with sauce on top.
Cover the dish with cracker crumbs moistened with melted butter.
Bake in the oven at 350°F (175°C) until the crumbs are brown.
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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Pepper + tomatotop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,923 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Lamb + tomatotop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together979 recipes
Shared aroma: trans,trans-2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
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Lamb + peppertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,165 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sauce + buttertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together15,338 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Tomato + saucetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together5,469 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Sauce and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 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
- Cold roast lamb
- Forms the meat layers, providing the main savory body of the dish.
- Macaroni
- Adds bulk and a tender, starchy layer that soaks up the sauce.
- Brown tomato sauce
- Supplies moisture and acidity that keep the layers from drying during baking.
- Cracker crumbs
- Form a crisp, golden topping as they brown in the oven.
- Butter
- Adds richness and helps the cracker crumbs brown evenly.
The step that matters
Rinse the macaroni thoroughly in cold water. Cooked pasta keeps cooking from residual heat and can turn soft and mushy. Rinsing in cold water stops the cooking and removes surface starch so the pieces stay separate and hold their shape in the layers.
Swap the tomato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lamb, pepper, sauce, butter):
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Potatofits about as well
- Tomatothe original
- Asparagusfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against lamb, pepper, sauce, butter. 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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