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Lamb Stew

A stew of lamb chops, potatoes, onions, and spices simmered in water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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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 ↓

Lamb Stew

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wash the lamb chops and place them in a stew kettle.

  2. Add the halved potatoes and onions.

  3. Pour in enough water to cover the ingredients.

Cook

  1. Stir everything together and season with salt, black pepper, and cayenne.

  2. Dredge in the flour and stir well.

  3. Set the kettle over low heat and let it simmer until fully cooked.

  4. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.

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.

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. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

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

  3. Lamb + potatotop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together520 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  4. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  5. Lamb + peppertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,165 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

Lamb chops
Provide the main meat, which becomes tender and flavourful as it simmers.
Potatoes
Absorb liquid and soften, thickening the stew and adding body.
Onions
Add sweetness and aroma as they soften in the simmering liquid.
Flour
Thickens the cooking liquid into a richer, looser gravy.

The step that matters

Simmering over low heat. Gentle, low heat lets the tough connective tissue in lamb break down slowly into tender meat while the liquid stays calm. A rolling boil can toughen the meat and cause the flour to clump or the stew to scorch on the bottom.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lamb, potato, pepper, flour):

  1. Okrafits better
  2. Spinachfits better
  3. Asparagusfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lamb, potato, pepper, flour. 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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