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Killarney Stew

A hearty stew of mutton, potatoes, onion, and parsley simmered slowly and layered with gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Killarney Stew

Ingredients

Directions

Stew the mutton

  1. In a large pot, combine the mutton, sliced onion, and enough cold water to cover the meat.

  2. Stew very slowly for 2 hours or until the mutton is tender.

  3. Strain the gravy into a bowl and set it in cold water to separate the fat.

Layer and simmer

  1. In a saucepan, layer thinly sliced potatoes, then add a layer of the stewed meat, seasoning with salt, pepper, and parsley.

  2. Continue layering with more potatoes and meat until all ingredients are used.

  3. Remove the fat from the top of the gravy and pour it over the layered meat and potatoes.

  4. Cover the saucepan tightly and simmer until the potatoes are broken into pieces, about 30 minutes after boiling begins.

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.

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

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

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

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

  3. Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,855 recipes

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

  4. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

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

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Mutton
Long slow stewing turns the tough lean meat tender and gives the gravy its flavour.
Potatoes
Starch thickens the gravy as they break down during the covered simmer.
Onion
Adds savoury flavour to the stewing liquid that becomes the gravy.

The step that matters

Simmer covered until the potatoes break up. Covering the pan traps steam and keeps the layers moist, while gentle simmering lets the potato starch soften and thicken the gravy without scorching at the bottom.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Spinachfits better
  4. Onionthe original

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