Why it works: Pepper and potato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,305 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Vegetable Pie
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
Chop and mix the cold cooked vegetables together.
Season with pepper and coarse sea salt.
If available, add bits of cold bacon.
Pour 1 cup of stock, gravy, or soup over the mixture.
Top and bake
Cover the dish with a layer of smoothly mashed potatoes mixed with plenty of milk.
Bake at 400°F (200°C) until the potato cover is crisp and nicely browned.
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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Pepper + potatotop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Potato + milktop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,611 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
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Pepper + milktop 22% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together26,984 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Mashed potatoes
- Form a soft topping that crisps and browns in the oven.
- Milk
- Loosens the mashed potatoes so they spread smoothly over the filling.
- Stock, gravy, or soup
- Adds moisture to the filling so it does not dry out while baking.
- Cold cooked vegetables
- Form the bulk of the filling and provide its main flavor and texture.
The step that matters
Covering the dish with mashed potatoes. Potatoes spread smoothly over a moist filling and brown through dry heat in the oven. Mashing them smooth with enough milk helps the layer spread evenly and brown without drying out.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, milk):
- Capsicumfits better
- Potatothe original
- Tomatofits less well
- Carrotfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, milk. 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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