Skip to main content
Main

Hotch-potch

A hearty stew of minced beef and assorted vegetables simmered slowly in a stone jar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Carrot and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,173 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Hotch-potch

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Wash, scrape, and slice the vegetables.

  2. Put all ingredients except the tomatoes into a pot and cover with hot water.

  3. Boil gently for 10 minutes, then drain off the water.

Layer and bake

  1. Layer a handful of mixed vegetables, including the tomatoes, in the bottom of a stone jar.

  2. Season with pepper and salt, then add a layer of minced beef.

  3. Repeat the layering until all ingredients are in the jar.

  4. Cover with a small plate and tie down with greased paper.

  5. Place in the oven at 300°F (150°C) for 5 to 6 hours, checking occasionally to ensure the paper does not catch fire.

Finish and serve

  1. After cooking, stir in the butter and adjust seasoning if needed, then serve in a tureen.

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 + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

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

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Turnip + cabbagetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together897 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Turnip + celerytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,418 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Onion + potatotop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Lean beef
Provides the main protein and savory meaty flavor that builds the body of the stew.
Potatoes
Break down slightly during long cooking, adding body and thickening the broth.
Carrots
Add sweetness and firm texture that holds up during slow baking.
Onions
Contribute sweetness and aromatic depth as they soften during cooking.
Tomatoes
Add acidity and moisture that give the dish a brighter, rounder flavor.
Butter
Stirred in at the end to add richness and a silky mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Keeping the paper cover secure and checking it during the long bake. A long, low oven bake depends on a sealed vessel so moisture stays in and the dish cooks gently. The paper must be watched so it does not scorch or catch fire.

Swap the cabbage

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, onion, carrot, turnip, celery, potato, corn):

  1. Leekfits better
  2. Parsnipfits better
  3. Okrafits better
  4. Cabbagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, onion, carrot, turnip, celery, potato, corn. 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.

More hotch-potch recipes

Winter 5Scotch 4Soup 3 See all 15 →

You might also like

Tomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipesPotato CroquettesPotato Croquettes255 recipesRoast BeefRoast Beef211 recipesCorn FrittersCorn Fritters203 recipes