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Pump Steak Pie

A pie with layers of rump steak, eschalots, black pepper, salt, mushroom catsup, beef gravy or red wine, topped with puff pastry.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Mushroom and beef 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 ↓

Pump Steak Pie

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the meat

  1. Cut the rump steak into 3-4 inch pieces, trimming off skin and sinew.

  2. Beat the steak pieces with a rolling pin until tender.

Layer the pie

  1. Chop the eschalots finely and mix with black pepper and salt.

  2. Layer eschalots and seasoning in a pie dish.

  3. Layer meat and more eschalots and seasoning.

  4. Pour mushroom catsup and beef gravy or red wine over the layers.

  5. Cover with a moderately thick puff pastry crust.

Bake

  1. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 2 hours.

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. Mushroom + beeftop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,232 recipes

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

  2. Pepper + beeftop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

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

  3. Pepper + mushroomtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,580 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (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 meat that becomes tender during the long, slow bake.
Eschalots
Add savory sweetness and aroma that perfume the meat and filling.
Mushroom catsup
Adds concentrated savory, umami flavour to the filling.
Beef gravy or red wine
Supplies liquid that keeps the filling moist and builds a rich sauce.
Puff pastry
Forms a flaky, golden crust that browns in the hot oven.

The step that matters

Beat the steak pieces until tender. Rump is a lean, firm cut with connective tissue. Pounding breaks up its fibres so it softens rather than staying chewy, and the pieces cook more evenly under the crust.

“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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