Why it works: Flour and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Curry
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare and brown
Cut the meats, fowls, or rabbits into small joints.
Fry them brown in a pan with the chopped onion.
When half done, remove them and place in a stewpan.
Simmer the curry
Add curry powder, a dredge of flour, lemon juice, butter, and ketchup.
Let it simmer until fully cooked.
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.
-
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + ketchuptop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,435 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Onion + buttertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together42,912 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
-
Lemon + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
-
Meat + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,594 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Meats, fowls, or rabbits
- Provide the protein that forms the body of the dish and gives it savory depth as it browns.
- Curry powder
- Supplies the spice blend that gives the dish its characteristic aroma and flavor.
- Flour
- Thickens the cooking liquid so the sauce clings to the meat.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a smoother mouthfeel to the sauce.
- Onion
- Softens and browns in the pan, adding sweetness and base flavor.
The step that matters
Browning the meat before simmering. Frying the meat until well browned builds flavor through the Maillard reaction. Removing it only when half done and finishing it in the simmering sauce lets it cook through gently without drying out.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, onion, flour, butter, ketchup):
- Avocadofits better
- Raisinfits better
- Coconutfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against meat, onion, flour, butter, ketchup. 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.
More curry recipes
You might also like
Lemon Sauce236 recipes
Meat Croquettes52 recipes
Meatballs37 recipes
Mince Meat37 recipesThe 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.