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Curry

A savory curry made with cold meat, onion, apple, curry powder, flour, and water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Curry

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 ↓

Curry

Ingredients

Directions

Brown the onion

  1. Heat the clarified dripping or butter in a saucepan.

  2. Peel and finely chop the onion.

  3. Add the chopped onion to the hot dripping.

  4. Brown the onion carefully.

  5. Shake the saucepan occasionally to prevent sticking.

Prepare the meat and apple

  1. Cut the cold meat into small pieces.

  2. Peel and core the apple.

  3. Chop the apple finely.

Make the curry

  1. Strain the browned onion.

  2. Return the dripping to the saucepan.

  3. Add the pieces of cold meat.

  4. Brown them on both sides.

  5. Stir in the curry powder.

  6. Stir in the flour.

  7. Stir in the chopped apple.

  8. Stir in the salt.

  9. Pour in the cold water.

  10. Add the browned onion.

  11. Stir until it boils.

  12. Reduce the heat.

Simmer

  1. Simmer for 30 minutes with the lid off.

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.

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.

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Butter + appletop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,706 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Onion + appletop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,206 recipes

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

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

Clarified dripping or butter
Carries the heat and adds rich fat flavour for frying the onion and meat.
Onion
Browns to add sweetness and savoury depth to the sauce.
Curry powder
Provides the main spice aroma and flavour of the dish.
Flour
Thickens the cooking liquid into a smoother, heavier sauce.
Apple
Adds mild sweetness and body as it softens into the sauce.

The step that matters

Brown the onion carefully. Onion browns through the Maillard reaction, building sweet, savoury flavour. Too much heat scorches the sugars, leaving bitter, burnt notes that spoil the whole curry.

Swap the apple

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

  1. Avocadofits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Coconutfits better
  4. Applethe 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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