Name: Beef Pie
Ingredients: steaks; pepper; coarse sea salt; water; tomato ketchup; puff pastry; pie crust

Why it works: Pepper and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,923 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Beef Pie

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Beat the steaks well and season with pepper and coarse sea salt.
Place the seasoned steaks in a dish.
Add some water and tomato ketchup.
Line the edges of the dish with puff pastry.
Cover the dish with a pie crust.
Bake in a 300°F (150°C) oven until cooked through.

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.

Pepper + tomatotop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,923 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Tomato + ketchuptop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together754 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Pepper + ketchuptop 24% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,207 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).