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A Dry Currie

A dry curry of meat, onions, eschalots, cabbage or lettuce, simmered in gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Eliza Acton · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Lettuce and cabbage match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 622 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

A Dry Currie

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the meat

  1. Skin and cut a fowl into small joints, or cut a couple of pounds of mutton, free from fat and bone, into very small thick cutlets.

  2. Rub the meat with currie-powder mixed with a teaspoonful of flour and a pinch of salt, enough to adhere (about two to three tablespoons).

Brown and build the sauce

  1. Dissolve a good slice of butter in a deep, well-tinned stewpan or saucepan, and shake it over a brisk fire for four to five minutes until it takes colour.

  2. Add the meat to the pan and brown it well and evenly, without scorching.

  3. Shake the pan vigorously every minute or two, turning the meat frequently.

  4. When browned, lift the meat out and throw into the stewpan two or three large onions finely minced, and four or five eschalots if desired.

  5. Add a morsel of butter if needed, and fry until the onions and eschalots begin to soften.

  6. Add a quarter pint of gravy, broth, or boiling water, and a large acid apple, or two moderate-sized apples, of a good boiling kind, with the hearts of two or three lettuces, or of one hard cabbage shredded small (tomatoes or cucumbers freed from their seeds can be substituted when in season).

  7. Stew the whole slowly until it resembles a thick pulp.

  8. Add additional liquid if it becomes too dry.

Finish and serve

  1. Put the meat back in and simmer the whole very softly until done, about 45 minutes to an hour.

  2. (Optional) Add prawns, shrimps, or boiled lobster flesh, heat through, and serve in the currie sauce.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

661Calories
18 gProtein
13 gFat
117 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Broccoli1 cup chopped (156g)55
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Lettuce1 cup shredded (36g)5

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Eliza Acton. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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.

  1. Lettuce + cabbagetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together622 recipes

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

  2. Onion + cabbagetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,001 recipes

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

  3. Onion + lettucetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,562 recipes

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

  4. Flour + lettucetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,236 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Butter
Browns the curry powder and flour, adding richness and a nutty colour to the base.
Onions
Soften and dissolve into the sauce, giving it body and a sweet savoury base.
Eschalots
Melt into the sauce with the onions, adding mild sweetness and aroma.
Lettuces
Break down into the stew, adding moisture and body to the thick pulp.
Gravy
Provides the liquid that stews the vegetables and meat into a thick sauce.

The step that matters

Browning the meat and butter. Browning the meat well and evenly, without scorching, builds the colour and roasted flavour of the sauce. Scorched butter or flour turns bitter, and shaking the pan often keeps the coating from burning.

Swap the cabbage

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, butter, onion, lettuce):

  1. Chivefits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Beetrootfits better
  4. Cabbagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, butter, onion, lettuce. 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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