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Hodge Podge

A cold meat salad made with minced mutton, lettuce, onions, peas, butter, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Lettuce and peas match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,293 recipes. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓

Hodge Podge

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Mince the mutton and slice the lettuces and onions.

Cook

  1. In a pan, combine the mutton, lettuces, and onions, reserving the peas.

  2. Add the water and let it simmer gently for 30 minutes, stirring well.

  3. Boil the peas separately.

  4. Mix the peas with the mutton mixture and serve hot.

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. Lettuce + peastop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,293 recipes

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

  2. Lettuce + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,562 recipes

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

  3. Lettuce + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,037 recipes

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

  4. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  5. Peas + oniontop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,460 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

Underdone cold mutton
Provides the main meat and savoury body of the dish.
Lettuces
Adds moisture and soft, tender texture as they wilt during simmering.
Green peas
Add sweetness and a fresh, bright flavour to the stew.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, giving the dish a rounder, smoother mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Simmer gently for 30 minutes, stirring well. Gentle heat keeps the already underdone mutton from toughening while it finishes cooking. Stirring spreads heat evenly so pieces near the pan base do not scorch or stick.

Swap the lettuce

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

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Asparagusfits better
  4. Lettucethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, peas, onion, butter, 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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