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
Assemble
Layer half the potatoes, then half the meat, and half the onions in a stewpan, sprinkling with salt and pepper.
Repeat the layers with the remaining potatoes, meat, and onions, finishing with a layer of potatoes on top.
Pour in enough water to cover the ingredients and cover the pan with a lid.
Stew and serve
Stew the mixture slowly for about 2 hours, ensuring it does not cook too fast.
About 30 minutes before serving, make suet dumplings the size of a pigeon's egg and add them to the stew.
Once cooked, carefully lift out the meat and arrange it in the center of a hot dish, garnished with potatoes and dumplings.
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.
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Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,023 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Mutton + peppertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together5,442 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Mutton + oniontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked 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
- Neck of mutton
- Provides rich flavor and tender meat as it slowly simmers and breaks down.
- Potatoes
- Absorb the stew's flavors and thicken the broth as their starch releases during cooking.
- Onions
- Add sweetness and savory depth as they soften and dissolve into the stew.
- Suet
- Makes light, tender dumplings that absorb broth and add richness.
The step that matters
Keep the stew at a slow simmer. Cooking too fast toughens the meat and can break up the potatoes, while slow, gentle heat lets collagen in the mutton soften into tender meat and a silky broth.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, potato, pepper):
- Carrotfits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Tomatofits about as well
- 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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