Why it works: Potato and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,023 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
To Make a Beef Pie
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Remove gristle, bone, and excess fat from the beef.
Rinse potato slices in cold water and parboil them.
In a pot, combine the beef and 1-2 teaspoons of salt with enough cold stock or water to cover the meat.
Cover the pot and simmer until the meat is half cooked, skimming off any scum.
Remove the meat and strain the gravy, keeping both warm.
Assemble
Grease a baking dish and line it with pie crust.
Layer the ingredients: meat, onions, tomatoes, floured butter, and potatoes, repeating layers.
Pour the strained gravy over the layers.
Wet the edge of the lower crust, place the top crust on, and pinch the edges together.
Make a slit in the center of the top crust.
Bake
Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 1 to 1.5 hours, covering with a tin pan if the crust browns too quickly.
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.
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Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,023 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Potato + tomatotop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,798 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,092 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,923 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Beef + tomatotop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,448 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
- Beef
- Provides the main body and savory flavor of the filling as it cooks slowly in the gravy.
- Potatoes
- Add starchy bulk that soaks up gravy and helps the filling hold its shape.
- Butter or beef dripping
- Adds richness and fat that carries flavor and helps the crust brown.
- Onions
- Contribute savory depth and aroma as they soften and sweeten during baking.
- Tomatoes
- Add acidity and moisture that brighten the filling and blend into the gravy.
The step that matters
Covering the crust during baking. The pastry top browns faster than the filling heats through. Covering it with a tin pan slows browning so the filling can cook fully without the crust burning.
Swap the tomato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, potato, onion, butter, pepper, meat):
- Chivefits about as well
- Carrotfits about as well
- Tomatothe original
- Capsicumfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, potato, onion, butter, pepper, meat. 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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