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Scotch Hotch Potch

A hearty stew of mutton, beef, onions, lettuce, peas, and cauliflower or cabbage simmered in water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Lettuce and cauliflower match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 151 recipes. Both carry trans-2-hexenal, which smells green, leafy. The science ↓

Scotch Hotch Potch

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Combine the mutton, beef, onions, lettuce, peas, and cauliflower or cabbage in a large pot.

  2. Add enough water to cover the ingredients and bring to a boil.

  3. Reduce heat and simmer until the meat is tender and the vegetables are cooked through.

  4. 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 + cauliflowertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together151 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  2. Peas + cauliflowertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together313 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

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

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

  4. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

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

  5. Onion + lettucetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,562 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

Mutton
Provides rich flavor and, as it simmers, gelatinous body to the broth.
Beef
Adds meaty flavor and substance, becoming tender during long simmering.
Onions
Contribute sweetness and aromatic depth to the broth as they cook down.
Peas
Add sweetness and soft texture once cooked through.
Cauliflower or cabbage
Adds bulk and mild sweetness, softening during simmering.

The step that matters

Simmering until the meat is tender. Tough cuts of mutton and beef need a long, gentle simmer so collagen breaks down into gelatin. A rolling boil toughens meat fibres and can leave the broth cloudy and greasy, so keep the heat low.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, beef, lettuce, peas, cauliflower):

  1. Asparagusfits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Turnipfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, beef, lettuce, peas, cauliflower. 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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