Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Curry
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Heat 2 oz. of clarified dripping or butter in a saucepan.
Chop 1 onion finely.
Add the chopped onion to the hot dripping to brown, stirring occasionally.
Cut the cold meat into small pieces.
Peel, core and chop 1 apple finely.
Make the curry
Once the onion is browned, strain it and return the dripping to the saucepan.
Add the pieces of cold meat to the saucepan and brown on both sides.
Stir in 2 teaspoons of curry powder, 2 teaspoons of flour, the chopped apple and salt to taste.
Pour in ½ pint of cold water.
Add the browned onion back to the saucepan.
Stir until it boils.
Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes.
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.
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + appletop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,706 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Butter + oniontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together42,912 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Meat + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,594 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Meat + oniontop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,364 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cold meat scraps
- Provide the main body of the curry, becoming tender as they simmer in the sauce.
- Curry powder
- Supplies the warm, aromatic spice flavour that defines the dish.
- Flour
- Thickens the cooking liquid into a smooth, lightly bodied sauce.
- Onion
- Browned in the fat first, adding sweetness and savoury depth to the base.
- Apple
- Adds mild sweetness and acidity that balances the spices.
The step that matters
Browning the onion. Onion that is only pale lacks the deep, sweet flavour that browning creates through the Maillard reaction and caramelisation. Stirring keeps it from scorching, which would make the curry bitter.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, butter, onion, flour):
- Avocadofits better
- Coconutfits better
- Raisinfits better
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against meat, butter, onion, flour. 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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