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Lamb

Meat, fish & cheese· meat

Lamb

What it is

Lamb is the meat of young domestic sheep, Ovis aries.

What it tastes like

On the nose: acid, sweet, pure, fruity. Among its measured molecules: benzothiazole, carbon disulfide, 2,2,4,6,6-Pentamethylheptane, 3-octanone, 1-octanol.

What goes with it

200 more go with it. See them all in the full library →

Salt and acid

Salt

Salt not measured yet.

Acid

Acid not measured yet.

Unusual pairings

Pairs the library can cite that almost nobody makes.

Every one of its 18 compounds carries a paper the library can cite.

  • caprylaldehydearomaaldehydereads as strong, fruity odor (PubChem)Measured in 37 of 338 ingredients.cite
    21.02 ng/g at Day 1, rising to 56.59 ng/g by Day 9; paper's text names it fourth most abundant aldehyde in raw lamb, after hexanal, nonanal and heptanalKarabagias 2018, Foods (Table 1, row 'Octanal', Day 1 column)
  • 1-octanolaromaalcoholreads as fresh orange rose odor (PubChem)Measured in 19 of 338 ingredients.cite
    23.55 ng/g at Day 1, rising to 57.27 ng/g by Day 9Karabagias 2018, Foods (Table 1, row '1-Octanol', Day 1 column)
  • L-serinetasteacidreads as sweet (PubChem)Measured in 3 of 338 ingredients.cite
    7.06-38.33 mg/100g, the widest muscle-type spread of the six (ST more than fivefold LTL, P<0.001); no significant breed effectWang et al. 2024, Food Chemistry: X (Table 3, row 'Ser')Measurement only — the source text is licensed facts-only.
  • L-aspartic acidtasteacidreads as sour (PubChem)Measured in 9 of 338 ingredients.cite
    28.92-51.04 mg/100g, named third in the paper's own abundance ranking; no significant breed effect, but significantly higher in ST muscle than LTL (51.04 vs 28.92 mg/100g, P<0.001). One of the two classic umami-taste free amino acidsWang et al. 2024, Food Chemistry: X (Table 3, row 'Asp')Measurement only — the source text is licensed facts-only.
  • hexanalaromaaldehydereads as sharp, aldehyde odor (PubChem)Measured in 85 of 338 ingredients.cite
    163.20 ng/g at Day 1 (freshest sampling point); rises to 231.02 ng/g (Day 5) and 340.37 ng/g (Day 9) during refrigerated storage. Named in the abstract as one of the most dominant volatiles, and the paper's proposed hexanal-to-nonanal ratio shows a perfect Pearson correlation (r=1.00) with malondialdehyde oxidation over the storage windowKarabagias 2018, Foods (Table 1 (volatile compounds, ng/g, raw lamb under air packaging), row 'Hexanal', Day 1 column)
  • L-histidinetasteacidreads as sweet (PubChem)Measured in 1 of 338 ingredients.cite
    second most abundant free amino acid named in the paper's own ranking, 37.22-46.59 mg/100g; no significant breed effect, but significantly higher in ST muscle than LTL (46.59 vs 37.22 mg/100g, P<0.001)Wang et al. 2024, Food Chemistry: X (Table 3, row 'His')Measurement only — the source text is licensed facts-only.
  • L-threoninetasteacidMeasured in 1 of 338 ingredients.cite
    the most abundant free amino acid in raw lamb muscle per the paper's own ranking, ranging 73.98-78.28 mg/100g; significantly higher in Hong breed than Hu (P<0.01) and in ST muscle than LTL (P<0.01)Wang et al. 2024, Food Chemistry: X (Table 3 (free amino acid composition, mg/100g, raw muscle), row 'Thr', Breed and Muscle-type main-effect columns)Measurement only — the source text is licensed facts-only.
  • L-argininetasteacidMeasured in 3 of 338 ingredients.cite
    28.30-47.74 mg/100g; no significant breed effect, but significantly higher in LTL muscle than ST (47.74 vs 28.30 mg/100g, P<0.001) -- the reverse muscle-type direction from aspartic acid, histidine and serineWang et al. 2024, Food Chemistry: X (Table 3, row 'Arg')Measurement only — the source text is licensed facts-only.
  • carbon disulfidearomareads as when pure, carbon disulfide has sweetish aromatic odor similar to that of chloroform (PubChem)Measured in 2 of 338 ingredients.cite
    825.58 ng/g at Day 1, the single largest value in the entire table -- named in the abstract as one of the most dominant volatiles. Unlike the aldehydes and alcohols, its concentration falls sharply by Day 5 (125.31 ng/g) before partially recovering by Day 9 (376.24 ng/g), a non-monotonic pattern the paper reports without fully explainingKarabagias 2018, Foods (Table 1, row 'Carbon disulfide', Day 1 column)
  • benzothiazolearomanitrogen compoundreads as odor similar to that of quinoline (PubChem)Measured in 1 of 338 ingredients.cite
    17.24 ng/g at Day 1, rising to 45.52 ng/g by Day 9; the paper's discussion connects benzothiazole-class compounds to Strecker degradation of sulfur amino acids (cysteine) during meat's own chemistry, though benzothiazole is also a known packaging/rubber-additive migrant, a possible alternate origin the paper does not rule outKarabagias 2018, Foods (Table 1, row 'Benzothiazole', Day 1 column)
  • p-cymenearomaterpenoidreads as mild pleasant odor (PubChem)Measured in 42 of 338 ingredients.cite
    29.35 ng/g at Day 1, rising to 181.68 ng/g by Day 9 (roughly sixfold); named in the abstract as one of the most dominant volatilesKarabagias 2018, Foods (Table 1, row 'p-Cymene', Day 1 column)
  • 1-hexanolaromaalcoholreads as fatty, fruity (PubChem)Measured in 48 of 338 ingredients.cite
    27.70 ng/g at Day 1, rising to 236.92 ng/g by Day 9 (roughly 8.5-fold increase, the largest relative rise of any compound in the table); named in the abstract as one of the most dominant volatilesKarabagias 2018, Foods (Table 1, row '1-Hexanol', Day 1 column)
  • heptanalaromaaldehydereads as fatty taste (PubChem)Measured in 33 of 338 ingredients.cite
    36.64 ng/g at Day 1, rising to 60.94 ng/g by Day 9 (statistically significant storage-time change, P<0.05); paper's text names it third most abundant aldehyde in raw lambKarabagias 2018, Foods (Table 1, row 'Heptanal', Day 1 column)
  • 1-octen-3-olaromaalcoholMeasured in 35 of 338 ingredients.cite
    96.45 ng/g at Day 1, rising to 397.11 ng/g by Day 9; named in the abstract as one of the most dominant volatiles in raw lambKarabagias 2018, Foods (Table 1, row '1-Octen-3-ol', Day 1 column)
  • 2,2,4,6,6-PentamethylheptanearomaacidMeasured in 2 of 338 ingredients.cite
    171.27 ng/g at Day 1, rising to 435.97 ng/g by Day 9; named in the abstract as one of the most dominant volatiles, and the paper cites prior literature reporting the same compound in both raw cattle and raw lamb meat with a characteristic odourKarabagias 2018, Foods (Table 1, row '2,2,4,6,6-pentamethyl-heptane', Day 1 column)
  • nonanalaromaaldehydereads as orange-rose odor (PubChem)Measured in 59 of 338 ingredients.cite
    80.98 ng/g at Day 1, rising to 97.52 ng/g by Day 9 (one of only three compounds, with hexanal and heptanal, showing a statistically significant storage-time change, P<0.05); the paper's text states nonanal is the second most abundant aldehyde in raw lamb after hexanal, and uses it as the denominator in its proposed freshness ratiosKarabagias 2018, Foods (Table 1, row 'Nonanal', Day 1 column)
  • L-glutamic acidtasteacidreads as umami sour taste (PubChem)Measured in 7 of 338 ingredients.cite
    18.92-28.86 mg/100g; no significant breed effect, but significantly higher in ST muscle than LTL (28.86 vs 18.92 mg/100g, P<0.001). The other classic umami-taste free amino acid alongside aspartic acidWang et al. 2024, Food Chemistry: X (Table 3, row 'Glu')Measurement only — the source text is licensed facts-only.
  • 3-octanonearomaketonereads as mild fruity odor (PubChem)Measured in 6 of 338 ingredients.cite
    23.44 ng/g at Day 1, rising to 66.98 ng/g by Day 9Karabagias 2018, Foods (Table 1, row '3-Octanone', Day 1 column)

Sources

  • Karabagias 2018, Foods
  • Wang et al. 2024, Food Chemistry: X(facts-only licence)