Why it works: Mutton and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,531 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓
Mutton Stew
Ingredients
Directions
Place the mutton pieces in a kettle.
Pour boiling water over the mutton until covered.
Add the chopped onion and salt to taste.
Boil slowly until the mutton is tender.
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.
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Mutton + oniontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,531 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
- Loin of mutton
- Provides the main meat, which becomes tender through long slow simmering.
- Onion
- Adds aromatic sweetness and savory depth to the broth as it cooks.
The step that matters
Boil slowly until the mutton is tender. A gentle simmer lets connective tissue in the mutton break down slowly, making it tender. A hard boil tends to toughen muscle fibers and can leave the meat stringy and dry.
“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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