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Mutton Stew

A hearty stew of mutton with turnips, carrots, celery, onions, and butter, simmered in water or broth.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,173 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Mutton Stew

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the mutton into suitable pieces and dip them in cold water.

  2. Season the mutton with black pepper and lightly dredge with flour.

Layer and simmer

  1. In a broad stewpan, layer the mutton, followed by a layer of sliced turnips and carrots.

  2. Add a layer of minced onions if desired, then another layer of mutton and more vegetables.

  3. Pour in enough water or broth to barely cover the ingredients.

  4. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and let simmer for 2 to 3 hours.

Brown and fry

  1. Brown the mutton in butter before stewing.

  2. Lightly fry the vegetables.

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. Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Turnip + carrottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,002 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Turnip + celerytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,418 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  5. Turnip + oniontop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,585 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
Provides the main meat; long simmering softens its connective tissue into a tender texture.
Turnips
Hold their shape in the stew while adding a mild sweetness and body.
Carrots
Add natural sweetness and colour, and soften during the long simmer.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, and helps the surface of the meat brown.

The step that matters

Simmer gently after boiling. Once the stew comes to a boil, lowering the heat to a gentle simmer keeps the meat tender. A hard boil toughens the meat and breaks up the vegetables.

Swap the celery

The recipe marks celery as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, turnip, carrot, pepper, butter, onion):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Celerythe original
  3. Thymefits about as well
  4. Marjoramfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, turnip, carrot, pepper, butter, onion. 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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