Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Lamb Stew
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the lamb
Cut the lamb into 2‑inch pieces and wash in cold water.
Place the lamb in a saucepan and cover with boiling water.
Boil quickly, skim, then add the onion and parsley.
Cover and simmer on low for 1½ hours.
Remove the onion and parsley, then add the potatoes.
Finish and serve
Season with salt and pepper, cover, and simmer for 40 minutes or until potatoes are done.
Mix flour with water in a bowl.
Remove the meat from the saucepan and place on a hot platter with potatoes around it.
Pour the flour mixture into the gravy, cook for 5‑6 minutes, then pour over the meat and potatoes.
If desired, sprinkle chopped parsley over the stew.
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.
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Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Onion + potatotop 3% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,023 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Parsley + potatotop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,855 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together25,843 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 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
- Breast of lamb
- Provides the meat that becomes tender during long, slow simmering.
- Potatoes
- Add starch and body, thickening the stew slightly as they cook and soften.
- Flour
- Thickens the cooking liquid into a gravy when cooked with it.
The step that matters
Adding the flour mixture to the gravy. Flour must be cooked for several minutes after it is stirred in, so it thickens smoothly and loses its raw taste. Stirring it in as a lump or skipping the cooking time leaves the gravy pasty.
Swap the parsley
The recipe marks parsley as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lamb, onion, potato, pepper, flour):
- Garlicfits about as well
- Parsleythe original
- Cuminfits about as well
- Turmericfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against lamb, onion, potato, pepper, flour. 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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