Why it works: Carrot and turnip match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,002 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
Haricot Mutton
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Trim off some fat and cut the mutton into thin chops.
Place the mutton in a frying pan with the fat trimmings and fry until pale brown, but do not cook fully.
Cut the carrots and turnips into dice, and slice the onions.
Slightly fry the vegetables in the same fat without allowing them to color.
Stew and serve
Layer the mutton at the bottom of a stewpan, followed by the vegetables.
Pour just enough boiling water to cover the mixture.
Bring to a boil, skim well, then reduce heat and simmer gently until the meat is tender, about 2½ hours.
Skim off any fat, season with pepper, salt, and add ketchup before serving.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,002 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Turnip + oniontop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,585 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Carrot + peppertop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,555 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together21,601 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Turnip + peppertop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,252 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Mutton
- Browning and then slow simmering turns the tough neck meat tender and gives the stew its savoury base.
- Carrots
- Dice soften during simmering and add sweetness and body to the stew.
- Turnips
- Dice soften during simmering and add mild earthiness and body to the stew.
- Onions
- Slicing and light frying softens them and adds sweetness and savoury depth to the broth.
- Ketchup or harvey sauce
- Adds acidity and savoury tang that brightens the rich meat broth.
The step that matters
Bring to a boil, skim well, then simmer gently. Boiling hard toughens the meat proteins and emulsifies fat into the broth, making it greasy and cloudy. Skimming removes scum, and a gentle simmer lets the connective tissue slowly break down so the meat turns tender.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, carrot, turnip, pepper, ketchup):
- Leekfits better
- Parsnipfits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, carrot, turnip, pepper, ketchup. 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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