Why it works: Carrot and turnip match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,002 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
Haricot Mutton
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Cut the mutton into chops, trimming off most of the fat.
Heat the dripping in a frying pan.
Dredge the mutton chops with flour and quickly fry them.
Place the fried chops in a pan with warm water.
Finely slice the onion and fry it in the fat.
Add the sliced onion, diced carrot, and diced turnip to the pan with the chops.
Simmer and finish
Simmer the mixture for about 2 hours, skimming off any fat.
Mix the flour with a little cold water, add some gravy, and bring to a boil.
Dish up the mutton, pour the gravy around it, and garnish with carrot and turnip.
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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Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,002 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Onion + turniptop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,585 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Carrot + peppertop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,555 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together21,601 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Flour + turniptop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,874 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Mutton
- Provides the main meat, whose connective tissue softens into tender meat during long simmering.
- Flour
- Dredging coats the chops for browning, and the flour mixed into the liquid thickens the gravy.
- Dripping
- Fat for frying that carries flavour and helps the chops and onion brown.
- Onion
- Adds savoury sweetness and aroma to the stew as it softens and fries in the fat.
- Carrot
- Adds natural sweetness and body to the stew as it cooks down.
- Turnip
- Adds mild sweetness and body, becoming tender during the long simmer.
The step that matters
Skimming off the fat during the simmer. Fat rendered from the mutton rises to the surface and can make the stew greasy and the gravy heavy. Skimming it regularly keeps the liquid clean and the flavour balanced.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, flour, carrot, turnip, pepper):
- Parsnipfits better
- Leekfits better
- Spinachfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, flour, carrot, turnip, 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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