Name: Roast Pore-quarter Op Lamb
Ingredients: Lamb; Coarse sea salt; Mint sauce; Gravy (from dripping pan)

Why it works: Lamb and mint work together. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 772 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Roast Pore-quarter Op Lamb

Ingredients

Lamb
Coarse sea salt
Mint sauce
Gravy (from dripping pan)

Directions

Prepare the fire in advance to ensure it is clear and brisk when the lamb is ready to cook.
Place the lamb at a distance from the heat to prevent burning the fat.
Baste the lamb constantly until it is served.
Cook the lamb thoroughly without drying it out; there should be no red gravy visible.
Serve with gravy made in the dripping pan and a tureen of mint sauce.

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 + minttop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together772 recipes

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

Smell alikelow

Cooked together925 recipes

Shared aroma: decanoic acid (soapy, waxy).
Mint + saucetop 32% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together568 recipes