Name: Minced Mutton
Ingredients: 2 tablespoons butter; 1 medium onion, finely chopped; 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped; 1 tablespoon mixed sweet herbs, chopped; 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour; ½ cup water or stock; as much stock as required; cold boiled or roast mutton, minced; poached eggs for serving

Why it works: Onion and parsley are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 25,843 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Minced Mutton

Ingredients

2 tablespoons butter
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
1 tablespoon mixed sweet herbs, chopped
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
½ cup water or stock
as much stock as required
cold boiled or roast mutton, minced
poached eggs for serving

Directions

In a skillet, melt the butter over medium heat.
Add the chopped onion, parsley, and sweet herbs; sauté until softened.
Mix the flour with water or stock to form a paste, then add to the skillet.
Pour in additional stock as needed to achieve desired consistency.
Add the minced mutton to the sauce and warm through without boiling.
Serve topped with poached eggs.

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.

Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together25,843 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Parsley + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together16,675 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter + oniontop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together42,912 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Butter + parsleytop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together28,563 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, parsley, flour, mutton, egg):

Shallotfits better
Leekfits better
Chivefits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, parsley, flour, mutton, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.