Why it works: Flour and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 92,116 recipes. Both carry phenylacetaldehyde, which smells hawthorne, honey. The science ↓
Curried Meat
Ingredients
Directions
In a pot, combine the meat and gravy.
Add the curry powder, flour, vinegar, chutney, and sugar.
Boil for a few minutes, stirring occasionally.
If needed, add more thickening to achieve desired consistency.
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.
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,806 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Flour + vinegartop 27% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,652 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Meat + flourtop 28% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together5,529 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Meat + vinegartop 31% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,428 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-methylbutanol (malty, whiskey).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Meat
- Provides the main body and protein of the dish as the bulk of the mixture.
- Flour
- Thickens the gravy so it coats the meat rather than running thin.
- Curry powder
- Supplies the dominant spiced aroma and flavor that defines the dish.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that brightens the rich gravy and balances the sweetness.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness that rounds out the sharpness of the vinegar and chutney.
- Chutney
- Contributes sweet-sour fruitiness and extra depth of flavor to the sauce.
The step that matters
Adding the flour before boiling. Flour must be fully dispersed and heated to thicken the gravy. If it clumps when added, lumps will remain and the sauce may stay thin or uneven. Stirring as it boils helps the starch hydrate and swell evenly.
“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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