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Broiled Lamb or Mutton

Slices of lamb or mutton are seasoned, slitted, and broiled over a clear fire.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and mint are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,372 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Broiled Lamb or Mutton

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the meat

  1. Cut slices from the hind-quarter of the lamb or mutton.

  2. Make slits in the meat and pound it gently.

  3. Season with salt, pepper, and onion juice. Sprinkle powdered mint into the slits.

Broil and serve

  1. Grease a gridiron with butter and place the meat on it.

  2. Broil over a clear fire, turning often until cooked through.

  3. Serve very hot.

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. Pepper + minttop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,372 recipes

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

  2. Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Lamb + peppertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,165 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

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

  5. Onion + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Lamb or mutton
Forms the main body of the dish and becomes tender and juicy when broiled.
Onion juice
Adds savoury flavour that seasons the meat from within.
Powdered mint
Adds aromatic flavour that penetrates the meat through the slits.

The step that matters

Turning often over a clear fire. Frequent turning exposes each side to direct heat so the surface browns evenly without scorching. Meat that is cooked too fast on one side can char outside while staying underdone within, so keeping the fire clear and the turning steady matters.

Swap the mint

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

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Mintthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lamb, pepper, onion, 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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