Name: Irish Stew
Ingredients: lamb, cut into pieces; boiling water; vegetables (carrots, potatoes, onions, etc.)

Why it works: Potato and onion 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

lamb, cut into pieces
boiling water
vegetables (carrots, potatoes, onions, etc.)

Directions

Place the lamb pieces in boiling water at 10:00 AM.
Cook the lamb for a few hours in the cooker.
At 2:00 PM, reheat the lamb.
Add diced vegetables to the lamb and cook on the range.
Transfer the mixture back to the cooker until dinner time.
Serve the meat and vegetables on a hot platter, then thicken the gravy.

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.

Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,023 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Carrot + potatotop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,107 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together21,601 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Lamb + potatotop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together520 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
Lamb + carrottop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together724 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).