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Irish Stew

A stew of 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.

  2. If the potatoes are not good, peel and cut out any bad spots.

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

  4. Peel the onions.

  5. Open the tin of canned meat and slice out 1½ pounds.

Steam and boil

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

  2. Add the onions to the boiling water in the saucepan.

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

  4. Check the potatoes and onions for tenderness with a fork.

  5. Remove the potatoes from the steamer.

  6. Peel the potatoes.

  7. Slice the potatoes.

  8. Remove the onions from the saucepan.

  9. Slice the onions.

Assemble

  1. In a large saucepan, layer the potatoes, onions, and meat.

  2. Sprinkle pepper and salt over each layer of meat for seasoning.

  3. 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

Canned meat
Provides the main savory body and protein of the stew.
Potatoes
Their starch softens during steaming and gives the stew substance and a hearty texture.
Onions
Soften during boiling, adding mild sweetness and aroma to the stew.

The step that matters

Testing the potatoes and onions for tenderness before removing them. Potatoes and onions must be fully tender, checked with a fork, before they are removed. Undercooked starch stays firm and grainy, while the cooking time is only a guide that depends on size and heat.

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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