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Irish Stew

A hearty stew of mutton neck, onions, potatoes, and optional bacon or ham, simmered slowly in water or stock.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Irish Stew

Why it works: Onion and potato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,023 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Irish Stew

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the meat

  1. Trim most of the fat from the neck of mutton and cut it into cutlets according to the number of bones.

  2. Sprinkle the cutlets with pepper.

Prepare the vegetables

  1. Peel the onions and use one pound of potatoes for every pound of meat.

  2. Blanch or parboil the onions and potatoes separately, then slice them.

Layer and stew

  1. In a clean 3‑quart stewpan, add ½ pint of water or stock.

  2. Layer the ingredients in the stewpan: start with potatoes, then cutlets, then onions, repeating the layers and finishing with a layer of potatoes on top.

  3. Add bacon or ham if desired.

  4. Stew very slowly until the cutlets are cooked through.

  5. Ensure there is enough stock or water to prevent burning.

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. Onion + potatotop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

  2. Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,456 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Mutton + hamtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together430 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  4. Onion + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Ham + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,475 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

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

What each ingredient does

Mutton neck
Provides the main meat, whose fat and connective tissue enrich the stew as it cooks slowly.
Potatoes
Soften during slow stewing and thicken the liquid slightly as their starch releases.
Onions
Break down during slow stewing, adding sweetness and savory depth to the broth.
Water or stock
Provides the cooking liquid that moistens the layers and prevents scorching.

The step that matters

Stew very slowly with enough liquid. Gentle, low heat lets the tough meat become tender without toughening or drying out, while sufficient liquid keeps the base from scorching on the pan bottom.

Swap the potato

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

  1. Leekfits about as well
  2. Potatothe original
  3. Chivefits less well
  4. Shallotfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, onion, ham, butter. 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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