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Irish Stew, with Salt Beef

A hearty stew of salt beef, potatoes, onions, and pepper simmered in cold water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 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 ↓

Irish Stew, with Salt Beef

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wash the salt beef in cold water.

  2. Separate it from the bone.

  3. Cut it into small pieces, about 2 ounces each.

  4. Wash the meat again in cold water.

  5. Peel and clean the potatoes.

  6. Peel and slice the onions.

Cook

  1. In a large pot, combine the meat, potatoes, and onions.

  2. Add a little pepper.

  3. Add enough cold water to cover the ingredients.

  4. Cover the pot.

  5. Cook gently over low heat.

  6. Skim the fat off the top frequently.

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. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

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

  3. Beef + potatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,052 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

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

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

  5. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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

Salt beef
Provides the main meat flavour and body of the stew, after washing to reduce excess surface salt.
Potatoes
Break down slowly in the liquid, thickening the stew and adding starchy body.
Onions
Soften during gentle cooking, adding sweetness and savoury depth to the broth.

The step that matters

Cook gently over low heat. Simmering gently keeps the salt beef tender, while a rapid boil toughens meat proteins and makes the broth cloudy. Skimming fat keeps the stew clean-tasting.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Capsicumfits about as well
  2. Tomatofits about as well
  3. Carrotfits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, potato, pepper. 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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