Name: Lamb Stew with Peas
Ingredients: small pieces of lamb; thinly sliced salt pork; water; 1 can of 'Selected' peas; flour

Why it works: Lamb and pork match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 623 recipes. Both carry 2,4-nonadienal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Lamb Stew with Peas

Ingredients

Directions

In a stew pan, combine lamb, salt pork, and enough water to cover.
Cover and simmer until the meat is tender.
Add the can of peas and more hot water if needed.
Mix flour with water to create a slurry and add to the stew.
Cook until the flour is fully incorporated and 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.

Lamb + porktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together623 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
Lamb + peastop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together650 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
Pork + peastop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,589 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Lamb + flourtop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,402 recipes

Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).
Peas + flourtop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,837 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).