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Meat Pie

A savory pie filled with stewed chuck steak, onions, bacon, and celery, topped with shortcrust pastry.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,193 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Meat Pie

Ovenhot oven

Ingredients

Directions

Make the filling

  1. Fry the bacon and onion over low heat until the onion is soft.

  2. Add the chopped steak.

  3. Pour in the water and season with salt, pepper, and thyme.

  4. Add the celery.

  5. Cover and simmer for about 1½ hours.

  6. Mix the flour with a little water to a smooth, runny mixture (roux). Stir this into the meat mixture.

  7. Stir until the mixture thickens.

Assemble the pie

  1. Pour into a deep pie dish.

  2. If making small pies, line small pie dishes with pastry and fill them with the meat mixture.

  3. Wet the rim of the pie with milk or beaten egg.

  4. Place a layer of pastry on top of the pie to form a lid.

  5. Trim the lid to the shape and size of the pie dish.

  6. Press the edges together with a fork to seal.

  7. Make some steam holes in the top and glaze with beaten egg or milk.

Bake

  1. Bake in a hot oven for 30-40 minutes (maybe less for the smaller ones).

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

808Calories
44 gProtein
20 gFat
109 gCarbs

Counts 8 of 10 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 8 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Beef100g cooked250
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Bacon1 slice cooked (8g)43
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Celery1 stalk (40g)6
Thyme1 tsp dried (1.4g)4
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0
Pastrynot in our table0

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

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

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. Thyme + celerytop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,193 recipes

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

  2. Pepper + thymetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,585 recipes

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

  3. Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Onion + thymetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,171 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Chuck steak
Becomes tender during long simmering, giving the filling its main meaty body.
Plain flour
Thickens the cooking liquid into a smooth, rich gravy as it is stirred in.
Onions
Soften and sweeten as they cook, adding depth of flavour to the filling.
Bacon
Adds savoury fat and smoky flavour to the base of the filling.

The step that matters

Stir the flour mixture into the meat and wait for it to thicken. Flour only thickens fully when it is stirred into hot liquid and given time to cook, so the gravy becomes smooth and glossy rather than floury or thin. Stirring prevents lumps from forming as the starch gelatinises.

Swap the thyme

The recipe marks thyme as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, pepper, celery, flour):

  1. Turmericfits better
  2. Parsleyfits about as well
  3. Thymethe original
  4. Cuminfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, pepper, celery, flour. 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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