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Beefsteak Pie and Pudding

A pie or pudding of beef steak, beef kidney, mushrooms, hard-boiled eggs and oysters, baked or boiled in pastry.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Beef and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,232 recipes. Both carry 2,4-nonadienal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Beefsteak Pie and Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the filling

  1. Cut the steak and kidney into small pieces.

  2. Stew the meat gently in water for 1 hour with a pinch of salt.

  3. Chop the mushrooms.

  4. Hard boil the eggs and slice them.

  5. Line a large basin or pudding dish with the pastry.

Assemble and bake

  1. Layer the meat, mushrooms, sliced eggs and oysters in the dish.

  2. Wet with oyster liquor and season with salt and pepper.

  3. Cover with the liquor, adding water if necessary, and reserve the meat gravy for later.

  4. Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) until the crust is set.

  5. Reduce the oven to 350°F (175°C) and bake until golden brown.

  6. For a glazed appearance, brush the crust with egg white while baking.

Steam and serve

  1. For pudding, tie the dish in a pudding cloth.

  2. Boil in water for 3 hours.

  3. Let it stand for a few minutes before removing the cloth.

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. Beef + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  2. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

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

  3. Mushroom + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,580 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Oyster + eggtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,103 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Mushroom + oystertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,299 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Rump steak
Provides the main meat, which becomes tender through gentle stewing.
Beef kidney
Adds rich, meaty flavour and a firmer texture to the filling.
Eggs
Hard-boiled and sliced, they add body and richness to the filling.
Mushrooms
Add moisture and earthy savoury flavour to the filling.
Oysters
Add briny flavour and moisture through their liquor.
Rich crust or puff pastry
Encloses the filling and sets into a golden, sturdy crust.

The step that matters

Steaming the pudding for 3 hours. The pudding must be sealed and boiled at a steady simmer so the crust cooks through and the meat stays moist. Too little water or a loose cloth can let water in or dry the filling, so check the level during the long boil.

“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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