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Spanish Stew

A hearty stew of chicken, tomatoes, peppers, onion, peas, mushrooms, and potatoes simmered in boiling water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 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 ↓

Spanish Stew

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Clean the chicken and disjoint it.

  2. Slice the tomatoes.

  3. Shred the peppers, removing the seeds.

  4. Slice the onion.

Make the stew

  1. Place the chicken in a kettle with the tomatoes, peppers, and onion.

  2. Add the boiling water, cover the kettle, and simmer until the chicken is tender.

  3. Remove the chicken.

  4. Strain the remaining contents of the kettle.

  5. Rub the vegetables through a sieve.

  6. Return the vegetables to the kettle and add the French peas, mushrooms, potatoes, and salt.

  7. Cook until the potatoes are tender.

  8. Replace the chicken in the kettle and heat thoroughly.

Serve

  1. Serve with a border of mashed potatoes or boiled rice.

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. Chicken + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,172 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-butyl acetate (fruity, banana).

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

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

  4. Tomato + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,719 recipes

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

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

Chicken
Provides the main protein and, as it simmers, flavors the broth.
Tomatoes
Add acidity and body, and are rubbed through a sieve to thicken the stew.
Potatoes
Soften as they cook and add starch that thickens the stew and gives it substance.
Red peppers
Add sweetness and aroma as they cook down into the base.

The step that matters

Rubbing the vegetables through a sieve. Pressing the cooked tomatoes, peppers, and onion through a sieve breaks down their cell walls and produces a smooth, thickened base. Skipping or rushing this leaves the stew watery and chunky.

Swap the peas

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

  1. Beansfits better
  2. Sesamefits better
  3. Chickpeafits better
  4. Peasthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, tomato, pepper, onion, mushroom, 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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