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Hotch Potch

A hearty stew of mutton and mixed vegetables simmered slowly in water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,053 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Hotch Potch

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the mutton into neat pieces.

  2. Place the mutton in a large pot with the water and salt.

  3. Let the pot come to a slow boil, skimming off any foam.

  4. While the stew simmers, shred the lettuce.

  5. Dice the onion, carrot, and turnip.

  6. Break the cauliflower into sprigs.

Simmer

  1. Let the meat simmer gently for 1 hour.

  2. Add the onion, carrot, and lettuce.

  3. Cook for another 30 minutes.

  4. Add the turnip, peas, and cauliflower.

  5. Cook slowly for 1 hour or until all vegetables are tender.

Finish and serve

  1. Stir in the chopped parsley.

  2. Season with pepper.

  3. Serve.

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. Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,053 recipes

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

  2. Turnip + lettucetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together526 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Turnip + cauliflowertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together286 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,002 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Cauliflower + lettucetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together151 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

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

What each ingredient does

Mutton neck
Provides the meat and rich flavour that gives the stew its body.
Peas
Add sweetness and soft, tender texture to the finished stew.
Cauliflower
Adds bulk and a mild flavour while softening during the long simmer.
Turnip
Contributes earthy sweetness and texture as it becomes tender in the broth.

The step that matters

Let the pot come to a slow boil, skimming off any foam. Foam rising from the meat contains impurities that can cloud the broth and taste bitter. Skimming it early keeps the stew clear and clean-flavoured, so the long, gentle simmer that follows produces a clearer, cleaner broth.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, carrot, turnip, peas, cauliflower, lettuce, parsley):

  1. Leekfits better
  2. Beetrootfits better
  3. Endivefits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, carrot, turnip, peas, cauliflower, lettuce, parsley. 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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