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A Cottage Pie

A casserole of sliced cold meat topped with mashed potatoes and baked.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and potato 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 ↓

A Cottage 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

  1. Cut the cold meat into small pieces and place in a pudding dish.

Make the gravy

  1. Melt butter in a pan and cook the sliced onion until light brown.

  2. Add the flour to the onion and stir until smooth, then remove from heat.

  3. Cook the mixture for 1-2 minutes, then add the stock, salt, and pepper, stirring until it boils.

Assemble and bake

  1. Pour half of the gravy over the meat, then spread the mashed potatoes on top and ruffle with a fork.

  2. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 20 minutes.

Serve

  1. Serve hot with the remaining strained gravy.

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. Onion + potatotop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Pepper + potatotop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

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

  4. Milk + potatotop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

  5. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 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

Cold cooked meat
Forms the bulk and savoury base of the pie filling.
Flour
Thickens the stock into a smooth gravy that holds the filling together.
Brown stock, gravy, or milk
Adds moisture and flavour, turning the meat into a saucy filling.
Mashed potatoes
Forms a soft topping that bakes into a golden, lightly browned crust.
Onion
Adds sweetness and savoury depth when cooked until light brown.

The step that matters

Cooking the flour into the onion before adding the stock. Cooking the flour briefly removes its raw taste, and stirring it smooth before adding liquid prevents lumps. Bringing the stock to a boil while stirring thickens the gravy evenly.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, flour, milk, pepper, potato, butter):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Asparagusfits better
  3. Chivefits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, flour, milk, pepper, potato, butter. 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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