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
Wash and scrape the carrots.
Peel the turnip thickly.
Wash the vegetables again.
Cut the carrots, turnip, and other vegetables into small pieces.
Peel and slice the onions.
Cut the meat into 4 or 5 pieces.
Make the gravy
Heat the dripping in a saucepan.
Add the onions and meat to the saucepan.
Fry until browned.
Remove the meat and set the pan aside.
Blend the flour with the fat in the saucepan.
Gradually add the water while stirring until it boils.
Season the gravy.
Simmer and serve
Add the meat and vegetables on top of the gravy.
Cover the pot.
Simmer slowly for 2 hours, or until the vegetables are tender.
Stir occasionally to prevent burning.
Serve the meat in the center of a hot dish with the vegetables and gravy around it.
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 protein and rich flavour, becoming tender during long, slow simmering.
- Flour
- Blended with the fat to form a roux that thickens the gravy.
- Dripping
- Fat for frying the onions and meat, carrying browned flavour into the gravy.
- Onions
- Soften and sweeten during frying, adding savoury depth to the gravy.
- Carrots
- Add natural sweetness and body, softening during the long simmer.
- Turnip
- Adds earthy flavour and texture, becoming tender during simmering.
The step that matters
Blending the flour with the fat. Flour must be cooked into the fat before liquid is added; otherwise it clumps and the gravy turns lumpy and tastes raw.
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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