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Hotch-potch Fob Wht- Tsb

A hearty stew of peas, turnip, carrots, leeks, herbs, and meat simmered for several hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Turnip and leek match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,046 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Hotch-potch Fob Wht- Tsb

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. In a large pot, combine the steeped peas, diced turnip, diced carrots, chopped leeks, and sweet herbs.

  2. Add the meat (beef, mutton, or sheep's head and feet) to the pot.

  3. Season with salt and pepper.

Simmer

  1. Cover with water and bring to a boil.

  2. Reduce heat and simmer for 2.5 hours for the peas, 2 hours for the vegetables, 3 hours for the head, and 4 hours for the feet.

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. Turnip + leektop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,046 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Turnip + carrottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,002 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Carrot + leektop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,310 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Carrot + peppertop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,555 recipes

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

  5. Peas + leektop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together249 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

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

What each ingredient does

Green peas
Provide the main body of the stew and thicken it as they soften during simmering.
Turnip
Adds mild sweetness and soft texture as it cooks through.
Carrots
Add sweetness and color while holding their shape during long simmering.
Leeks
Contribute a gentle onion-like aroma and sweetness to the broth.
Beef or mutton
Adds savory meaty flavor and richness to the broth as it simmers.

The step that matters

Simmering times for the meats. The peas, vegetables, head and feet need different simmer times. Tough cuts like feet need the longest cooking to become tender and release gelatin, which gives the stew body. Undercooking leaves them chewy.

Swap the peas

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (turnip, carrot, leek, pepper, beef):

  1. Lentilsfits better
  2. Beansfits better
  3. Chickpeafits better
  4. Peasthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against turnip, carrot, leek, pepper, beef. 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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