Why it works: Onion and potato 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
Make the stew base
Cover the meat with cold water.
Bring the covered meat to a boil.
Reduce heat to a gentle simmer.
Cook the meat for 1 hour until tender.
Add the sliced onion, pepper, salt, and mace.
Taste the broth and adjust seasoning as desired.
Cover the stew and continue to simmer for another hour.
Add potatoes and thicken
Boil the potatoes separately until tender.
Cut the boiled potatoes into small pieces.
Add the potato pieces to the stew and stir to combine.
Mix the flour with a little cream to make a smooth thickening.
Stir the thickening mixture into the stew.
Add the remaining cream.
Bring the stew to a boil before serving.
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.
-
Onion + potatotop 3% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,023 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,092 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Beef + potatotop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,052 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
-
Pepper + potatotop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,971 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Beef or mutton
- Provides the main savory meat flavor, and simmering for an hour makes it tender.
- Potatoes
- Add body and starch that soften in the broth, making the stew heartier.
- Flour
- Thickens the broth into a smooth, lightly body-rich gravy when mixed with cream first.
- Cream
- Adds richness and a silky texture that softens the stew's flavor.
- Onion
- Adds sweetness and savory depth as it cooks into the broth.
The step that matters
Stirring in the flour and cream thickening. Flour added directly to hot liquid clumps, so mixing it with a little cream first creates a smooth slurry that blends evenly. Adding it to a gently simmering stew, then stirring, lets the starch swell and thicken without lumps.
Swap the mace
The recipe marks mace as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, onion, flour, cream, pepper, potato, meat):
- Garlicfits better
- Celeryfits better
- Thymefits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, onion, flour, cream, pepper, potato, meat. 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.
You might also like
Potato Croquettes255 recipes
Roast Beef211 recipes
Beef Loaf175 recipes
Corned Beef87 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.