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An Irish Stew

A hearty stew of loin chops, potatoes, onions, and water, simmered until the potatoes are nearly mashed.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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An 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 ↓

An Irish Stew

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut thick chops from the loin, removing the square ends of the bones.

  2. Layer the chops in an iron pot with the sliced potatoes and small onions.

  3. Add water to the pot, covering the ingredients.

Stew and serve

  1. Cover the pot closely and stew on moderate heat for 2 hours.

  2. Cook until the potatoes are nearly mashed and have absorbed the water and gravy.

  3. Serve hot without any sauce.

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).

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

What each ingredient does

Loin chops
Provide the meat, which becomes tender and flavours the stew as it cooks slowly.
Potatoes
Break down during stewing, thickening the liquid and giving the stew body.
Onions
Soften during stewing and add sweetness and savoury depth to the gravy.

The step that matters

Keep the pot covered and the heat moderate. Gentle, covered stewing keeps the meat tender and prevents the liquid from evaporating too fast or the potatoes from scorching on the bottom of the pot.

“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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