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Irish Stew

A hearty stew of mutton, potatoes, and onions simmered in water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Irish Stew

Why it works: Potato and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,023 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Irish Stew

Ingredients

Directions

Start the stew

  1. In a large pot, combine the mutton and cold water.

  2. Add the sliced onions and bring the mixture to a boil slowly.

  3. Once boiling, skim off any foam, then reduce heat and let it simmer for 1.5 hours.

Finish

  1. Season to taste and serve.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

  2. Mutton + oniontop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,531 recipes

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

  3. Potato + muttontop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together293 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Mutton
Long simmering breaks down tough collagen, making the meat tender and enriching the broth with gelatin.
Potatoes
Their starch softens and partly thickens the broth, giving the stew body.
Onions
As they soften and release their sugars, they add sweetness and savoury depth to the broth.

The step that matters

Skimming the foam while the stew comes to a boil. Foam rises from proteins and impurities in the meat. Removing it keeps the broth clear and stops it from tasting scummy or bitter.

Swap the potato

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

  1. Leekfits about as well
  2. Potatothe original
  3. Turnipfits less well
  4. Chivefits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, onion. 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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