Name: Scotch Hotch Potch
Ingredients: 2 pounds mutton, cut into small pieces; 2 pounds beef, cut into small pieces; 6 quarts water; several carrots, chopped; several turnips, chopped; 2 onions, chopped; 1 cup peas; 1 cup cauliflower or cabbage, chopped; optional: 1 cup rice

Why it works: Turnip and cauliflower match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 286 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Scotch Hotch Potch

Ingredients

Directions

Make the broth

In a large pot, combine the mutton, beef, and water.
Bring to a simmer and cook for 2 hours.

Add the vegetables and serve

Two hours before serving, add the carrots, turnips, onions, peas, and cauliflower or cabbage.
For a winter variation, use any two types of meat and add carrots, onions, turnips, celery, and rice.

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.

Turnip + cauliflowertop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together286 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together8,002 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Peas + cauliflowertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together313 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Turnip + oniontop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together7,585 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together21,601 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

Mutton: Long simmering breaks down connective tissue, making the meat tender and enriching the broth.
Beef: Slow simmering releases flavor and gelatin into the broth, adding body and savoriness.
Carrots: Hold their shape during long cooking and add natural sweetness to the stew.
Turnips: Soften during simmering and add a mild, slightly peppery flavor to the broth.
Onions: Break down as they cook, adding savory depth and sweetness to the broth.

Swap the peas

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, beef, carrot, turnip, onion, cauliflower, rice):

Beansfits better
Lentilsfits better
Peasthe original
Chestnutfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, beef, carrot, turnip, onion, cauliflower, 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.