Name: Meat Pie
Ingredients: one pound of cold baked lamb; one-half pint of warm water; four raw potatoes sliced thin; one beaten egg; pepper; salt

Why it works: Potato and pepper 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 ↓

Meat Pie

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Cut one pound of cold baked lamb, beef, or veal into small pieces.
Slice four raw potatoes thin.

Assemble and bake

Arrange a layer of meat, then a layer of potatoes, pepper, salt, and butter.
Fill a pudding dish in this way.
Add cold gravy on top if available.
Add one beaten egg and one-half pint of warm water.
Cover with pie crust and bake for one hour.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

539Calories

36 gProtein

27 gFat

39 gCarbs

Counts 5 of 6 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 5 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Lamb	100g cooked	294
Potato	1 medium (173g) baked	161
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Water	not in our table	0

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

By Mansfield, W. H., & co., Putnam, Conn., pub. [from old catalog]. 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. See the original page.

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.

Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,305 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Lamb + potatotop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together520 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
Lamb + peppertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,165 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Lamb + eggtop 27% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,204 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Potato + eggtop 29% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,978 recipes

Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Cold baked lamb: Provides the main body and savory flavor of the filling.
Raw potatoes: Add starch that thickens the filling and bulk to the pie.
Beaten egg: Helps bind the filling and sets during baking to hold it together.