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Pea-fowl Mulligatawney

A stew of pea‑fowl simmered with spices, curry, and broth, finished with onions and optional pale leaves.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Pea-fowl Mulligatawney

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the broth

  1. Separate all joints of the pea-fowl.

  2. Place the joints in a stewpan with 4 quarts of water, black peppercorns, and allspice.

  3. Bring the liquid to a boil, then skim off any foam.

  4. Let simmer for 2 hours.

  5. Strain the broth and set it aside.

Make the soup

  1. Fry the bits of meat in butter until browned.

  2. Add the sliced onions and cook until done.

  3. Add the broth back to the meat and onions, then skim the mixture.

  4. Let simmer for 30 minutes.

  5. Mix curry powder, flour or arrowroot, salt, and enough water to thicken the soup, then add the mixture to the pot.

  6. Simmer gently until the meat is tender.

  7. Add pale leaves for flavor if desired.

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. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Allspice + flourtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,302 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Allspice + oniontop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,270 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Butter + oniontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Onion + flourtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together32,460 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Pea-fowl
Supplies the meat and flavour for the broth and the soup body.
Onions
Sweetness and savoury depth as they cook down into the soup.
Curry powder
Provides the spiced aroma and flavour that define the mulligatawny.
Flour or arrowroot
Thickens the soup so it has a fuller body.

The step that matters

Adding the curry and thickener mixture. Flour or arrowroot must be mixed with water before adding, otherwise it clumps and does not thicken evenly. Gentle simmering afterwards keeps the starch smooth and the meat tender.

Swap the allspice

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

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Jalapenofits better
  3. Garlicfits better
  4. Allspicethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, onion, flour. 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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