Why it works: Onion and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 29,030 recipes mention both. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Slice and fry the onions until golden brown.
Brown the pieces of chicken or rabbit slightly.
Line a stewpan with the ham.
Stew
Add the onions, garlic, chicken or rabbit, and stock to the stewpan.
Simmer until the meat is tender.
Skim off any fat.
Once the meat is done, stir in the curry powder mixed with a little stock.
Add the pounded almonds, mixing in a few drops of stock as needed.
Season with lemon pickle and salt to taste.
Serve
Serve with boiled rice.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
-
Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together29,030 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
-
Garlic + chickentop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together10,839 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-ethyl-2,5-dimethylpyrazine (roasted, nutty).
-
Onion + chickentop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together17,808 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
-
Chicken + hamtop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,497 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
-
Garlic + lemontop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together8,862 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Chicken or rabbit
- Provides the meat that becomes tender during slow simmering.
- Curry powder
- Supplies the spiced aroma and flavour that defines the stew.
- Pounded almonds
- Thicken the sauce and add a creamy, nutty body.
- Onions
- Add sweetness and body to the sauce when fried until golden brown.
- Stock
- Forms the cooking liquid that moistens the meat and carries the flavours.
The step that matters
Simmer until the meat is tender. Gentle simmering lets connective tissue in the meat break down slowly. Boiling vigorously toughens the proteins and can leave the meat dry and stringy, so keep the stew at a low, steady simmer.
Flavor stand-ins for the almond
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, garlic, lemon, chicken, ham):
- Sesamebetter flavor fit
- Beansbetter flavor fit
- Chickpeabetter flavor fit
- Almondthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against onion, garlic, lemon, chicken, ham. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
“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.
You might also like
Illustration
Illustration
Illustration
IllustrationThe Sunday pairing: one pairing, the chemistry behind it, and how to cook it. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account for sign-in; Pro adds the full results and chemistry.