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 ↓
Hints About Boiling Meats
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare and brown
Cut the mutton in handsome pieces.
Put about half the fat in the stew pan, with the onions.
Stir for eight or ten minutes over a hot fire.
Put in the meat, sprinkled with the flour, salt and pepper, and stir ten minutes.
Simmer and serve
Add the boiling water.
Set where it will simmer for one hour.
Add the potatoes, peeled and cut in quarters.
Simmer an hour longer and serve.
Dumplings may be cooked with this dish, if you choose.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 6 of 8 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 6 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Pork | 100g cooked | 242 |
| Potato | 1 medium (173g) baked | 161 |
| Onion | 1 medium (110g) | 44 |
| Black Pepper | 1 tsp ground (2.3g) | 6 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| Water | not in our table | 0 |
| Meat | not in our table | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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. See the original page.
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).
-
Pork + potatotop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,668 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
-
Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Pork + oniontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,214 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 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
- Mutton (in the method)
- Provides the meat that becomes tender during the long simmer.
- Flour
- Dusted over the meat, it thickens the stew liquid as it cooks.
- Potatoes
- Soften during simmering and add body and starch to the stew.
- Onions
- Soften and turn sweet when stirred in the fat over heat.
The step that matters
Stirring the meat with the flour. Flour must be coated onto the meat and stirred while it cooks briefly in the fat, so it does not clump when the water goes in. Stirring spreads it evenly, letting the liquid thicken smoothly rather than forming lumps.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, meat, potato, flour, pepper):
- Capsicumfits better
- Asparagusfits better
- Spinachfits about as well
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pork, meat, potato, flour, 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.
You might also like
Potato Croquettes255 recipes
Pork Cake107 recipes
Roast Pork82 recipes
Potato Rolls78 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.