Why it works: Onion and rice are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,433 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓
Cueried Boiled Mutton
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the curry
Sprinkle the mutton slices with salt, curry powder, flour, and chopped onion.
Place the mutton in a stew pan with gravy or water.
Shake the pan frequently and let it simmer gently for 1.5 hours.
Cook the rice
Wash the rice and boil it in 1 quart of water for 25 minutes.
Drain the rice and place it in the oven for 5 minutes to dry.
Serve
Arrange the rice around the dish and place the curry in the center.
Serve hot with a side of mixed pickles.
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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Onion + ricetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,433 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Flour + ricetop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,611 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Mutton + ricetop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,019 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Flour + oniontop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together32,460 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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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
- Cold boiled mutton
- Provides the main protein, which becomes tender as it simmers in the sauce.
- Curry powder
- Supplies the spiced flavor that defines the dish.
- Flour
- Thickens the sauce slightly as it cooks with the liquid.
- Onion
- Adds sweetness and savory depth to the curry as it softens.
- Rice
- Serves as the starchy base that soaks up the curry sauce.
The step that matters
Simmering the mutton gently. Simmering gently rather than boiling keeps the meat tender and prevents it from toughening, while slow heat lets the flour thicken the sauce evenly without scorching.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, flour, rice):
- Leekfits better
- Arrowrootfits better
- Shallotfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, flour, rice. 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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