Name: Irish Stew
Ingredients: 2 to 3 lbs breast mutton, minced; 3 cups water; 4 lbs potatoes, peeled and diced; 4 large onions, chopped; 1 teaspoon sago; 2 or 3 lettuces, chopped; 1 pint green peas; ½ teaspoon pepper; 1 cup butter

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

In a stewpan, combine the minced mutton, chopped onions, chopped lettuces, and water.
Simmer the mixture, covered, for about 1½ hours.
Add the peas and continue to simmer until they are cooked.
Serve the stew with a border of rice around the dish.
For extra heat, add more pepper or cayenne.

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.

Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,023 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Lettuce + peastop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,293 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Potato + lettucetop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together322 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Onion + lettucetop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,562 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Potato + peastop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,016 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Swap the peas

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

Beansfits better
Chickpeafits about as well
Sesamefits about as well
Peasthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, potato, onion, lettuce, pepper, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.