Name: A Genuine Irish Stew
Ingredients: 2 pounds neck of mutton chops, trimmed of fat; 4 large potatoes, peeled and sliced; 8 large onions, sliced; coarse sea salt, to taste; black pepper, to taste; water or stock, as needed

Why it works: Potato and onion 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 ↓

A Genuine Irish Stew

Ingredients

2 pounds neck of mutton chops, trimmed of fat
4 large potatoes, peeled and sliced
8 large onions, sliced
coarse sea salt, to taste
black pepper, to taste
water or stock, as needed

Directions

Prepare

Cut the mutton chops from the neck and trim off excess fat.
Slice the potatoes and onions.

Layer and cook

Layer half of the potatoes and onions in a stew pan.
Place the meat on top and season with salt and pepper.
Cover the meat with the remaining potatoes and onions.
Add enough water or stock to moisten the top layer.
Cover the stew pan tightly and simmer for 3 hours without lifting the lid.

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.

Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,023 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,305 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together68,474 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Mutton + peppertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together5,442 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Mutton + oniontop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,531 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Mutton chops: Provide the main meat, whose fat and connective tissue flavour the stew during slow simmering.
Potatoes: Form the starchy base layers that soften and thicken the stew as they cook.
Onions: Add sweetness and savoury depth as they soften during the long simmer.

The step that matters

Cover tightly and simmer without lifting the lid. A tight lid keeps steam in so the stew cooks gently in its own moisture. Lifting the lid lets heat and steam escape, which slows cooking and can leave the meat dry or unevenly cooked.

Swap the onion

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

Carrotfits better
Capsicumfits better
Tomatofits about as well
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, potato, 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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Haricot Mutton59 recipes

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A Genuine Irish Stew