Name: Dublin Lamb Stew
Ingredients: 2 cups beef broth; 2 lb lamb steaks (bone in), cubed; 1 tbsp dill salt or herbes de Provence; 2 lb potatoes , peeled and sliced; 1 ½ lb carrots , peeled and diced; 1 green bell pepper , sliced; 4 cups baby bella mushrooms , sliced; 1 medium onion , finely chopped; 3 celery stalks, chopped; 1 tbsp olive oil; Salt to taste; Pepper to taste

Why it works: Dill and carrot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 321 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

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.

Dill + carrottop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together321 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Dill + potatotop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together423 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,023 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Beef + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,232 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
Potato + carrottop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,107 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Lamb steaks: Provides the main meat, which becomes tender during long, slow simmering.
Potatoes: Their starch softens and partly thickens the broth, giving the stew body.
Carrots: Add natural sweetness and hold their shape well through long cooking.
Beef broth: Forms the cooking liquid that carries the flavor of the whole stew.
Onion: Sweetens and builds aroma as it cooks down in the fat.
Baby bella mushrooms: Release savory, meaty flavor and moisture as they cook.

The step that matters

Browning the meat. Searing the lamb over medium heat triggers Maillard browning, which builds deep savory flavor in the stew. If the pan is crowded or too cool, the meat steams instead and turns grey, leaving the final stew flatter in taste.

Swap the dill

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

Garlicfits better
Parsleyfits better
Thymefits better
Dillthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, lamb, potato, carrot, pepper, mushroom, onion. 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.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Lamb	100g cooked	294
Beef	100g cooked	250
Potato	1 medium (173g) baked	161
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Mushroom	1/2 cup sliced (35g)	15
Celery Stalks	1 stalk (40g)	6
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Dill	5 sprigs fresh (1g) / 1 tsp dried	4
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Dublin Lamb Stew

Dublin Lamb Stew

Ingredients

Directions

Brown and sauté

Simmer

Serve

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)