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Meat with Potatoes

A Bulgarian stew of meat, potatoes, vegetables, and tomato sauce simmered with paprika and parsley.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 8,053 recipes mention both. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Meat with Potatoes

Time1/2 hour

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the meat into 2" pieces. Put in the saucepan with the salt, cover and cook on the top of the range at medium heat, stirring occasionally. At this point you can add the oil.

Build the stew

  1. Meanwhile, peel onion and carrot and chop them finely. Add to meat and stir. Slice celery and Italian pepper, add and stir. In 5 minutes add paprika, stir, add water.

  2. Cover and cook 1/2 hour. Meanwhile peel potatoes and cut them into cubes. Add to meat, cook 15 minutes.

Finish and serve

  1. Add tomato sauce, cook 5 minutes. Add parsley. Switch off the oven, let stay on it for 10 minutes. Serve.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

This recipe comes from the Recipes Wiki on Fandom and is licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Our formatting and summaries are shared under the same licence.

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

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.

  1. Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together8,053 recipes

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

  2. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Onion + potatotop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together9,023 recipes

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

  4. Carrot + potatotop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together3,107 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  5. Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together2,855 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

What each ingredient does

Meat (in the method)
Provides the main protein and, when simmered slowly, becomes tender.
Potatoes (in the method)
Absorb the cooking liquid and thicken the stew as their starch releases.
Tomato sauce
Adds acidity and savoury depth, and colours the sauce.
Onion
Releases sweetness and aroma as it softens in the pot.

The step that matters

Adding the potatoes. Potatoes added too early turn mushy, while added too late they stay firm and raw. Adding them after the first half hour lets them cook through while holding their shape.

Flavor stand-ins for the onion

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

  1. Capsicumbetter flavor fit
  2. Parsnipbetter flavor fit
  3. Okrabetter flavor fit
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against carrot, pepper, potato, tomato, parsley. 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.

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