Name: Irish Stew, or Haricot of Mutton
Ingredients: 2 pounds mutton, cut into pieces; 4 large potatoes, peeled and diced; 2 carrots, sliced; 1 onion, chopped; 4 cups water; 2 tablespoons coarse sea salt; 1 teaspoon black pepper; 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped

Why it works: Carrot and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,053 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Irish Stew, or Haricot of Mutton

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Make the stew

Combine the mutton, potatoes, carrots, onion, water, salt, and pepper in a large pot.
Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 1.5 to 2 hours until the meat is tender.
Skim off any fat that rises to the surface.

Serve

Serve hot, garnished with fresh parsley.

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.

Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together8,053 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together34,122 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,023 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Potato + carrottop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,107 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,855 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

What each ingredient does

Mutton: Provides the rich meat flavour, and slow simmering turns its connective tissue tender.
Potatoes: Starch that thickens the broth slightly and makes the stew hearty.
Carrots: Add natural sweetness that balances the savoury meat and broth.
Onion: Adds aromatic depth to the broth as it softens during simmering.

The step that matters

Simmer gently until the meat is tender. A rolling boil toughens meat by squeezing its muscle fibres, while slow simmering breaks down connective tissue into tender, moist bites. Skimming the fat keeps the broth clean.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, potato, carrot, pepper, parsley):

Parsnipfits better
Turnipfits better
Capsicumfits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, potato, carrot, pepper, parsley. 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.

Mutton Broth292 recipes

Potato Croquettes255 recipes

Carrot Soup134 recipes

Potato Rolls78 recipes

Like knowing why a recipe works?

The free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.

Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.

Irish Stew, or Haricot of Mutton