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Irish Stew

A hearty stew of mutton, potatoes, onions simmered in water with salt and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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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

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the mutton into neat slices.

  2. Peel and cut the onions into rings.

  3. Cut the parboiled potatoes into slices or leave them whole as preferred.

Simmer

  1. Place the meat, onions, hot water, salt, and pepper in a saucepan.

  2. Simmer gently for one hour, skimming regularly.

  3. Place the potatoes on top of the meat.

  4. Simmer slowly for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent burning.

Serve

  1. Once the meat is tender, arrange it in the center of a hot dish with the onions.

  2. Surround it with the potatoes.

  3. Pour the gravy over the dish.

  4. Serve.

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. Mutton + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together5,442 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Mutton + oniontop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,531 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

Mutton
Its fat and connective tissue soften during long simmering, making the meat tender and flavourful.
Potatoes
Starch thickens the cooking liquid slightly and absorbs the savoury gravy as they cook.
Onions
Sweetness and aroma build as they soften in the broth, adding depth to the gravy.

The step that matters

Simmer gently and skim. Keeping the liquid at a gentle simmer, not a rapid boil, keeps the meat tender and stops fat and impurities from clouding the gravy. Regular skimming removes the foam that rises during cooking.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Tomatofits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, 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.

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