Why it works: Onion and potato 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
Prepare the meat and vegetables
Trim most of the fat from the neck of mutton.
Cut the mutton into cutlets according to the number of bones.
Sprinkle the cutlets with pepper.
Peel the onions and slice them.
For every pound of meat, use one pound of potatoes, then slice the potatoes.
Blanch or parboil the onions and potatoes separately.
Layer in the stewpan
In a clean 3‑quart stewpan, add ½ pint of water or stock.
Layer the ingredients in the stewpan: start with potatoes, then cutlets, then onions.
Repeat the layers, finishing with a layer of potatoes on top.
Add bacon or ham if desired.
Ensure there is enough stock or water to prevent burning.
If the mutton is not very fatty, add a little butter or dripping.
Stew
Stew very slowly until the cutlets are cooked through.
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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Onion + potatotop 3% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,023 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,456 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Mutton + hamtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together430 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Onion + buttertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together42,912 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Ham + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,475 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Neck of mutton
- Provides the main meat, flavour and richness of the stew as it cooks down.
- Potatoes
- Soften into the broth, adding body and starch that thickens the stew.
- Onions
- Add sweetness and aroma as they soften and blend into the liquid.
- Bacon or ham
- Adds salty, smoky fat that flavours the stock as it cooks.
The step that matters
Stew very slowly until the cutlets are cooked through. Gentle, low heat lets the connective tissue in the mutton break down slowly, so the meat turns tender instead of tough. Boiling hard toughens the meat and can drive off the liquid, so there is less stock to keep the bottom from scorching.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, onion, ham, butter):
- Leekfits about as well
- Potatothe original
- Chivefits less well
- Shallotfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, onion, ham, butter. 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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