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Irish Stew

A hearty stew of mutton chops, onions, potatoes, and herbs simmered in a seasoned broth.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Irish Stew

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 ↓

Irish Stew

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mutton

  1. Blanch the mutton chops in boiling water for 2-3 minutes, then transfer to ice-cold water.

  2. Place the chops in a clean stewpan and barely cover with cold water.

  3. Bring to a boil and skim clean.

  4. Add salt.

Simmer the stew

  1. Add parsley, mace, and peppercorns.

  2. Simmer for 20 minutes.

  3. Add whole onions and flour mixed with cold water.

  4. Let it simmer for 1 hour.

  5. Add peeled and cut potatoes.

  6. Boil until the potatoes are done.

Serve

  1. Dish the chops around the plate.

  2. Pour the onions and potatoes into the center.

  3. Strain the gravy, add chopped parsley, and pour over the stew.

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

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

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

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

  3. Parsley + oniontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Parsley + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together16,675 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Parsley + macetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,268 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

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

What each ingredient does

Mutton chops
Provide the meat that becomes tender and flavours the broth during long simmering.
Flour
Thickens the cooking liquid into a gravy as it simmers.
Potatoes
Add starch that soaks up broth and gives the stew body and substance.
Onions
Add sweetness and aroma as they soften into the broth.

The step that matters

Skim clean after bringing to a boil. Foam and impurities rise to the surface as the water heats. Removing them before the long simmer keeps the broth clear and free of bitter or off flavours.

Swap the mace

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

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Capersfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, parsley, onion, flour, 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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