Name: Roast Lamb or Veal
Ingredients: 6 to 10 lbs lamb; little bits of salt pork; 1 tablespoon coarse sea salt; 8 lbs veal

Why it works: Lamb and pork match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 623 recipes. Both carry 2,4-nonadienal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Roast Lamb or Veal

Ingredients

6 to 10 lbs lamb
little bits of salt pork
1 tablespoon coarse sea salt
8 lbs veal

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.

Roast the lamb

Prepare a dressing for the lamb and tie it securely.
Roast the lamb at 350°F (175°C) for 1.5 to 2 hours, basting frequently with drippings.
About 15 minutes before removing, baste the lamb with 1 tablespoon of coarse sea salt.
Remove the lamb from the oven and keep it hot.

Roast the veal

For the veal, roast at 350°F (175°C) for 4 hours, basting frequently with slivers of salt pork.
Season the veal with coarse sea salt as you did with the lamb.

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 + porktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together623 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
Pork + vealtop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,930 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
Lamb + vealtop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together568 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Lamb: Forms the main roast; slow roasting at moderate heat cooks it through while keeping it tender.
Veal: Forms the second roast; long, moderate roasting breaks down connective tissue for a tender result.
Salt pork: Slivers added to basting baste the veal, adding fat and savory flavor as they melt.

“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.