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Ragout of Mutton

A hearty stew of browned mutton with hominy, scalloped potatoes, stewed tomatoes, celery, served with barley bread and oleomargarine.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Tomato and celery are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,377 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Ragout of Mutton

Ingredients

Directions

Brown the mutton

  1. Cut the mutton into pieces and brown in a pot.

Make the ragout

  1. Add the hominy balls, scalloped potatoes, stewed tomatoes, and chopped celery.

  2. Cover and simmer until the mutton is tender.

Serve

  1. Serve with slices of barley bread spread with oleomargarine.

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. Tomato + celerytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,377 recipes

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

  2. Potato + tomatotop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,798 recipes

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

  3. Potato + barleytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together165 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Celery + barleytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together571 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).

  5. Potato + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,047 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Mutton
Provides the main meat; browning builds savory flavour and long simmering makes it tender.
Scalloped potatoes
Starch from the potatoes thickens the cooking liquid and adds body to the ragout.
Stewed tomatoes
Adds acidity and tomato flavour that balances the richness of the meat.
Celery
Adds a fresh, aromatic vegetable flavour to the simmered stew.

The step that matters

Simmer covered until the mutton is tender. Slow, gentle, covered simmering lets tough connective tissue in the mutton break down into gelatin, making the meat tender. Boiling hard can toughen the proteins and dry the meat, so the heat should stay low.

Swap the celery

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, potato, tomato, barley, bread):

  1. Celerythe original
  2. Thymefits about as well
  3. Garlicfits about as well
  4. Parsleyfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, potato, tomato, barley, bread. 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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