Skip to main content
Main

Irish Stew

A hearty stew of meat, potatoes, onions, and broth simmered for at least an hour.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓
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

Layer the pot

  1. Spread a layer of potatoes or parsnips at the bottom of a pot.

  2. Add some chopped onions, pepper, and salt.

  3. Layer half the meat and more seasoning on top.

  4. Add another layer of potatoes, then the remaining meat, onions, and seasoning.

  5. Cover with the rest of the potatoes and press everything down.

  6. Pour in the broth or cooking liquid.

Cook

  1. If baking, cover with paper to retain steam; if using a saucepan, close the lid tightly.

  2. Bring to a boil and let it simmer steadily for at least 1 hour.

  3. Stir occasionally if cooking over the fire to prevent sticking or burning.

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

Meat
Provides the savoury body and rich flavour of the stew as it cooks slowly.
Potatoes
Soften during simmering and thicken the stew while forming the base layers.
Onions
Add sweetness and aroma that deepen as they cook into the broth.
Meat broth or cooking liquid
Carries heat through the layers and gently cooks the vegetables and meat.

The step that matters

Keep the simmer steady and the lid sealed. A gentle, steady simmer cooks the meat until tender without toughening it, while a tight cover or paper keeps steam in so the liquid does not boil away and scorch.

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.

You might also like

Potato CroquettesPotato Croquettes255 recipesPotato RollsPotato Rolls78 recipesPotato ChipsPotato Chips53 recipesSweet Potato CroquettesSweet Potato Croquettes53 recipes