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Irish Stew

A stew made with canned meat, potatoes, onions, salt, pepper, and warm water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Irish Stew

Why it works: Potato and onion 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

  1. Wash the potatoes well in cold water and scrub them clean. If they are not good, peel and cut out any bad spots.

  2. Fill a saucepan with hot water and bring it to a boil.

  3. Peel the onions.

  4. Place the potatoes in a steamer and sprinkle with salt.

  5. Open the tin of canned meat and slice the meat.

Cook

  1. Boil the onions in the saucepan.

  2. Cover the steamer tightly and let the potatoes steam and the onions boil for 30 minutes.

  3. Check if the potatoes and onions are tender with a fork.

  4. Once cooked, remove the potatoes from the steamer, peel, and slice them.

  5. Remove the onions from the saucepan and slice them.

Assemble

  1. In a large saucepan, layer the potatoes, onions, and meat, seasoning each layer with pepper and salt.

  2. Pour in ½ pint of warm water.

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. Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

  2. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

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

  3. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  4. Meat + potatotop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together786 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  5. Meat + oniontop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,364 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Potatoes
Starchy body that softens during steaming and gives the stew its bulk and texture.
Canned meat
Supplies the main protein and savoury flavour of the stew.
Onions
Soften as they cook, adding sweetness and depth to the stew.

The step that matters

Steaming the potatoes until tender. Potatoes need enough steam time to cook through evenly; undercooked centres stay firm and grainy, while overcooking makes them break apart when sliced.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Carrotfits better
  3. Asparagusfits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, potato, pepper. 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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