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Vintage Mutton Stew

A hearty stew of mutton, onions, paprika, tomato, green peppers, and potatoes simmered in lard.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and potato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,023 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Vintage Mutton Stew

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a large pot, heat the lard over medium heat.

  2. Add the chopped onions and fry until golden.

  3. Stir in the paprika and the chopped mutton, cooking until browned.

  4. Add the chopped tomato and green peppers, along with salt to taste.

  5. Pour in a little water and allow to stew, adding more water as needed.

  6. Once the meat is tender, serve hot, garnished with potatoes cooked in salted water.

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. Onion + potatotop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

  2. Tomato + potatotop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,798 recipes

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

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

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

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

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

  5. Pepper + potatotop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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

Mutton
Provides the main meat, which becomes tender through slow stewing in liquid.
Onions
Frying until golden builds sweetness and savory depth as the base of the stew.
Lard
Fat for frying the onions and browning the meat, adding richness and flavor.
Paprika
Adds color and a mildly sweet, smoky aroma when briefly cooked with the meat.
Tomato
Contributes moisture and acidity that help build the stew's savory sauce.
Green peppers
Add fresh, slightly bitter vegetal flavor and body to the stewing liquid.

The step that matters

Adding water and stewing slowly. Meat is tough collagen-rich tissue that needs low, moist heat for a long time to break down and become tender. Adding water gradually keeps the pot from drying out or scorching while the meat softens.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Carrotfits better
  3. Spinachfits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, tomato, pepper, potato. 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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