Name: To Stew Mutton
Ingredients: 2 carrots, chopped; 1 turnip, chopped; 4 potatoes, chopped; 3 tomatoes, chopped; water; pepper; coarse sea salt; mutton, cut into pieces; fried onions

Why it works: Carrot and turnip match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,002 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

To Stew Mutton

Ingredients

Directions

In a pot, combine the carrots, turnip, potatoes, and tomatoes with a little water, pepper, and salt.
Stew the vegetables until nearly done.
Add the mutton and fried onions to the pot.
Let it simmer for a few minutes.
Serve hot.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together8,002 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,107 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Potato + tomatotop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,798 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Turnip + oniontop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together7,585 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

What each ingredient does

Mutton: Provides the main protein and rich meaty flavour that defines the stew.
Potatoes: Thicken the broth as they break down and give the stew body.
Tomatoes: Add acidity and moisture that help build the stew's savoury base.
Carrots: Contribute gentle sweetness and hold their shape during long stewing.
Fried onions: Add savoury depth and aroma from their browned flavour.
Turnip: Adds earthy flavour and a firm texture to the vegetable mix.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (carrot, turnip, potato, pepper, mutton, onion):

Leekfits better
Parsnipfits better
Spinachfits better
Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against carrot, turnip, potato, pepper, mutton, 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.