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Irish Stew

A hearty stew of mutton, onions, herbs, and potatoes simmered in water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Irish Stew

Why it works: Parsley and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Irish Stew

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mutton

  1. Cut the mutton into pieces of 3 to 4 ounces and place in a saucepan.

  2. Add ½ cup of water and cover the saucepan, allowing the water to evaporate completely.

  3. Add another ½ cup of water, let it evaporate, then season with salt and pepper.

Simmer the stew

  1. Add the quartered onions, parsley, thyme, and bay leaves, then moisten with enough water to cover the meat.

  2. Cover and boil for 25 to 30 minutes.

  3. Add the quartered potatoes and cover them with hot water.

  4. Season again if desired, cover, and finish cooking.

  5. Remove the bunch of herbs before serving.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Onion + potatotop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

  4. Pepper + thymetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,585 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. Parsley + potatotop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,855 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

What each ingredient does

Mutton
Provides the main meat and rich flavour as its fat and connective tissue soften during long simmering.
Onions
Break down while cooking, adding sweetness and body to the broth.
Potatoes
Absorb the cooking liquid and thicken the stew as their starch releases.
Parsley
Adds a fresh, green aroma that lightens the rich meat.

The step that matters

Let the water evaporate before adding more. Letting the mutton release its juices and then reduce the water lets the meat brown slightly in its own fat and concentrates flavour. Adding water too early dilutes the broth and leaves the meat boiled and pale.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, pepper, parsley, thyme, potato):

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Shallotfits better
  3. Leekfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, pepper, parsley, thyme, potato. 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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