Name: Irish Stew
Ingredients: Leg of lamb; Turnips; Mint sauce

Why it works: Lamb and mint work together. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 772 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Irish Stew

Ingredients

Leg of lamb
Turnips
Mint sauce

Directions

Prepare the leg of lamb by cutting it into pieces.
Peel and chop the turnips.
In a pot, layer the lamb and turnips.
Add water to cover the ingredients and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat and simmer until the lamb is tender.
Serve with mint sauce.

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.

Lamb + minttop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together772 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Turnip + minttop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together128 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Lamb + turniptop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together276 recipes

Shared aroma: geraniol (rose, geranium).
Turnip + saucetop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together943 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Lamb + saucetop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together925 recipes

Shared aroma: decanoic acid (soapy, waxy).