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An Irish Stew

A hearty stew of lamb, potatoes, and onions simmered in water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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An Irish Stew

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 ↓

An Irish Stew

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Cut the ends off the bones of the lamb chops.

  2. Layer the chops, sliced potatoes, and onions in an iron pot.

Stew

  1. Add 1 quart of water and cover the pot tightly.

  2. Stew on moderate heat (350°F / 175°C) for 2 hours until the potatoes are nearly mashed and have absorbed the meat's juices.

Serve

  1. Serve hot without any sauce.

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. Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

  2. Lamb + potatotop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together520 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  3. Lamb + oniontop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,407 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Lamb chops
Provide the meat and fat that flavour the stew as it cooks.
Potatoes
Break down during the long stew, thickening the liquid and absorbing the meat's juices.
Onions
Soften and release sweetness into the water, adding depth to the broth.

The step that matters

Stew on moderate heat, covered, for the full 2 hours. Gentle, sealed cooking lets the potatoes break down and absorb the meat juices. Too high a heat or lifting the lid can toughen the meat and leave the potatoes firm and the liquid thin.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lamb, potato):

  1. Asparagusfits better
  2. Okrafits better
  3. Spinachfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lamb, potato. 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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