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Curry

A simple curry made with cold meat, apple, onion, curry powder, and clarified dripping or butter.

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

Why it works: Butter and apple are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,706 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

Curry

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Heat clarified dripping or butter in a saucepan.

  2. Peel and finely chop the onion.

  3. Cut the cold meat into small pieces.

  4. Peel, core, and finely chop the apple.

Brown the onion

  1. Add the chopped onion to the hot dripping and brown it carefully. Shake the saucepan occasionally to prevent sticking.

  2. Strain the browned onion and return the dripping to the saucepan.

Make the curry

  1. Add the cold meat and brown on both sides.

  2. Stir in curry powder, chopped apple, and salt.

  3. Pour in cold water and add the browned onion.

  4. Stir until it boils, then reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes.

  5. Remove the meat and serve on a hot dish.

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Meat + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,594 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Meat + oniontop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,364 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Apple + oniontop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,206 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Cold meat scraps
Provide the main protein, which browns in the dripping and becomes tender as it simmers.
Apple
Adds gentle sweetness and body that softens into the sauce as it cooks.
Onion
Browning builds savoury depth and sweetness that forms the base of the sauce.
Curry powder
Supplies the spice blend that gives the dish its characteristic aroma and flavour.

The step that matters

Browning the onion carefully. Onion that is scorched turns bitter and dark, while onion browned slowly develops sweetness and rich colour. Shaking the pan keeps the pieces from sticking and burning.

Swap the apple

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

  1. Avocadofits better
  2. Coconutfits better
  3. Grapefits about as well
  4. Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, 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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