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Potato Stew

A stew of sliced potatoes, salt pork, tomato, and seasonings simmered in water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and sage match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,388 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Potato Stew

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a soup kettle, fry the salt pork squares thoroughly.

  2. Add the sliced potatoes and tomato to the kettle, then season with salt, pepper, and sage if desired.

  3. Cover with water and cook until the potatoes break apart, keeping the kettle closely covered while cooking.

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. Pepper + sagetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,388 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

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

  3. Potato + porktop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,668 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

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

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

  5. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 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
Break down during cooking to thicken the stew and give it body.
Salt pork
Renders fat that flavours the stew and browns the pork before the liquid is added.
Tomato
Adds acidity and a mild sweetness that balances the rich pork fat.

The step that matters

Cover with water and cook until the potatoes break apart. Keeping the kettle closely covered holds in steam so the liquid stays at a steady simmer. Cooking too hot or uncovered can evaporate the liquid and scorch the bottom before the potatoes soften.

Swap the sage

The recipe marks sage as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, pork, tomato, pepper):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Garlicfits better
  3. Marjoramfits better
  4. Sagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, pork, tomato, 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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