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Classic Cottage Pie

James Martin goes back to basics with a traditional homemade cottage pie. Perfect comfort food for a winter evening.

By bbcfood · From Open Recipes · 16 ingredients
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Why it works: Olive and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,539 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Classic Cottage Pie

2-3
Prep30 min

Ingredients

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

1210Calories
47 gProtein
48 gFat
142 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 13 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Beef100g cooked250
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Banana1 medium (118g)105
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Pea1/2 cup (72g)62
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Wine2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)25
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Soy Sauce1 tbsp (15ml)9
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Thyme1 tsp dried (1.4g)4
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By bbcfood. Recipe from Open Recipes.

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. Olive + tomatotop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,539 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  2. Thyme + peppertop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,585 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Olive + thymetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,948 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (apple, fatty).

  4. Thyme + tomatotop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,370 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  5. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 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

Swap the banana

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, beef, thyme, tomato, flour, red wine, pepper):

  1. Limefits better
  2. Plumfits better
  3. Lemonfits better
  4. Bananathe original

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, beef, thyme, tomato, flour, red wine, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.