Most Sunday roasts have been cooked roughly the same way for generations.
But this Easter there will be rather a lot of lamb joints studded with anchovies at the family dinner table.
The meal has been given a distinctive, fishy twist by chef Heston Blumenthal, triggering a rush for supplies of the tiny salty fish which have previously catered to a niche market.
Fishy lamb: Heston Blumenthal with his unlikely but winning combination of lamb studded with anchovies
Sales of anchovies have soared five-fold after the recipe, which Blumenthal first saw as a child, was the focus of an advertising campaign for Waitrose.
John Vine, grocery buyer for the chain, said: 'Sales are up 400 per cent week-on-week. The lamb is studded with anchovies to bring out the very best in the meat.'
The sales boom revives memories of the 'Delia Smith effect' when the former Waitrose figurehead pushed up demand by using unlikely or obscure ingredients.
In the advert, Blumenthal, depicted as a ginger-haired teenager, is transfixed by a sizzling pan of lamb in a restaurant in France. The narrator promises viewers that 'the little tiddlers enhance the flavour' by melting away in the oven to leave a delicate tang.
Fresh take: The new lamb recipe includes garlic, anchovies and, more conventionally, rosemary
Experimental: Heston Blumenthal has become the leading chef on the British cooking scene for cutting-edge recipes and novel food combinations
But looking past the Blumenthal craze, the anchovy has quietly been making the transition from foodie crowds to the family for some time.
Anchovies it seems are the perfect accompaniment for frugal times, even the word in Italian describes a skinny person.
Appearing on pizzas, pastas and salads, for some its appearance in the traditional roast was only the next logical step.
The tinned fish has long been blended with meat in Mediterranean cooking.
British chefs such as Nigel Slater and Nigella Lawson have long advocated their inclusion everything from meatballs to meat stew.
Blumenthal’s version involves tucking them into the skin of the browned lamb along with garlic and a sprig of rosemary.
The whole thing is then roasted and the fish melts away leaving a delicate salty tang and without any fishiness Blumenthal insists.
He says: ‘The combination may sound odd but it really works. The savouriness of the anchovies brings out the best in the meat, without tasting overly fishy.’
Traditional: The roast lamb at Heston Blumenthal's Michelin-starred The Fat Duck restaurant
Acclaimed: The Fat Duck restaurant in Bray, Berkshire owned by Heston Blumenthal, where he first made his name
