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Spanish Stew

A stew of potatoes, onions, tomatoes, vermicelli, milk, and butter, seasoned with pepper and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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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 ↓

Spanish Stew

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Melt the butter in a pot and add diced potatoes and onions with a little water.

  2. Cook until tender, then add sliced tomatoes and cook for another 10 minutes.

  3. Season with pepper and salt, then stir in the milk and vermicelli.

  4. Add more water if necessary and let simmer for another 10 minutes before serving.

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. Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

  2. Potato + tomatotop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,798 recipes

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

  3. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

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

  5. Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Potatoes
Form the bulk of the stew and thicken the liquid as their starch softens.
Spanish onions
Add savory sweetness as they soften and release their flavor into the pot.
Tomatoes
Add acidity and moisture that help build the stew's liquid and flavor.
Vermicelli
Adds body and texture as the pasta absorbs liquid and softens in the stew.
Milk
Adds richness and creaminess to the broth.
Butter
Adds fat and flavor to start the vegetables cooking.

The step that matters

Adding the vermicelli and milk. Pasta and dairy can scorch or stick to the bottom of the pot if the heat is too high or the stew is not stirred. Adding more water when needed and simmering gently keeps the vermicelli tender and the milk from catching.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, tomato, milk, butter, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Carrotfits about as well
  3. Asparagusfits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, tomato, milk, butter, 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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