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Curried Mutton or Lamb

A curry of cubed mutton or lamb simmered with onion, tomatoes, and Laxami curry powder.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Tomato and rice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,065 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

Curried Mutton or Lamb

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the meat into small cubes.

  2. Peel and chop the onion.

Cook

  1. Melt the fat in a pan and lightly fry the meat.

  2. Add the onion and fry for a little longer.

  3. Sprinkle the curry powder over the mixture and stir for a few seconds.

  4. Add the flour and let it brown slightly.

  5. Moisten with the stock, stir until it boils, and season with salt and pepper.

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.

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. Tomato + ricetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,065 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  2. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Onion + ricetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,433 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Onion + porktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,214 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

Lamb or mutton
Provides the main protein, which becomes tender with slow simmering.
Curry powder
Supplies the spiced flavour that defines the dish.
Flour
Browned in the fat, it thickens the stock into a sauce.
Pork fat or lard
Fat for frying that carries the curry flavour and helps the meat brown.
Tomatoes
Add acidity and moisture that balance the richness of the sauce.

The step that matters

Stirring the curry powder into the fat for a few seconds. Spices release more aroma when briefly fried in fat, but they can scorch quickly, turning bitter. Keep the stirring constant and the time short.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, pork, flour, tomato, rice, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Okrafits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, pork, flour, tomato, rice, 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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