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Chestnut Pie

A baked pie of chestnuts, celery, onion, wheatmeal, and butter, and a cabbage and potato pie with cheese and eggs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By T. R. Allinson · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and onion 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 ↓

Chestnut Pie

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the vegetables

  1. Boil the chestnuts until partly tender, then remove the skins.

  2. Cut the celery into pieces, removing the outer very hard pieces only.

  3. Slice the onion and stew until tender in 1 pint of water.

Make the pie

  1. Mix all the ingredients together, adding 1 oz of butter and seasoning to taste.

  2. Make pastry from the meal, 3 oz of butter, and a little cold water.

  3. Turn the vegetables into a pie dish.

  4. Cover the dish with the pastry.

  5. Bake the pie for 1 hour.

  6. Serve with brown gravy.

Make the cabbage mould

  1. Boil the cabbage in 1 pint of water until quite tender.

  2. Drain the water off to keep for stock.

  3. Chop the cabbage up fine.

  4. Mix the cabbage with the mashed potatoes, butter, seasoning, and grated cheese.

  5. Beat the eggs, then mix them well with the rest.

  6. Press the mixture into a greased mould.

  7. Heat all well through in the oven or in a steamer.

  8. Turn out and serve with a white sauce.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

362Calories
16 gProtein
7 gFat
62 gCarbs

Counts 8 of 9 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 8 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Potato1 medium (173g) baked161
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Broccoli1 cup chopped (156g)55
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Celery1 stalk (40g)6
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot 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.

By T. R. Allinson. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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.

  1. Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

  2. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

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

  3. Cabbage + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,081 recipes

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

  4. Celery + cabbagetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,840 recipes

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

  5. Celery + potatotop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,047 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Bind the mixture and set when heated, holding the mould together.
Mashed potatoes
Add body and moisture, giving the mixture a soft, cohesive texture.
Cabbage
Forms the bulk of the mould and gives it a tender, moist texture.
Onion
Stewed until tender, it adds sweetness and savoury depth to the filling.
Celery
Adds a fresh, aromatic flavour and crisp-tender texture to the filling.

The step that matters

Press the mixture into a greased mould. Firm packing removes air pockets and lets the eggs and starch bind the mash, so it holds its shape when turned out. Grease keeps it from sticking.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (celery, potato, nutmeg, cabbage, egg, pepper):

  1. Spinachfits better
  2. Carrotfits better
  3. Leekfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against celery, potato, nutmeg, cabbage, egg, pepper. 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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