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Stewed Chop

A mutton chop stewed in a covered jar with salt, cold water, celery and rice, steamed in a saucepan.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Celery and rice are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,169 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Stewed Chop

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Place the mutton chop in a jar with the salt and cold water.

  2. Add the shredded celery and washed rice.

  3. Cover the jar with a lid or buttered paper tied on.

  4. Place the jar in a saucepan of boiling water.

Cook and serve

  1. Cover the saucepan and steam slowly for two hours.

  2. Serve with or without the celery.

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. Celery + ricetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,169 recipes

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

  2. Mutton + ricetop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,019 recipes

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

  3. Mutton + celerytop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together928 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

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

What each ingredient does

Mutton chop
Provides the meat that becomes tender and flavourful as it steams slowly in its own juices.
Rice
Thickens the cooking liquid slightly as its starch softens during the long steam.
Celery
Adds a mild, fresh aroma and subtle savoury flavour to the broth.

The step that matters

Steaming slowly in a covered jar. The jar must be sealed and the water kept at a gentle simmer so the meat cooks in its own juices. Strong boiling or a loose cover can let liquid escape and leave the meat dry and tough.

Swap the celery

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

  1. Turmericfits better
  2. Cuminfits about as well
  3. Pepperfits about as well
  4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, rice. 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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