Name: Spare Rib Potpie
Ingredients: spare ribs; hot water; coarse sea salt; black pepper; peeled potatoes (quartered if large); butter; baking powder dough

Why it works: Pepper and potato 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 ↓

Spare Rib Potpie

Ingredients

Directions

Cut the spare ribs into strips three to four inches wide.
Place the ribs in a kettle and cover with hot water. Stew until tender.
Season the ribs with coarse sea salt and black pepper.
Layer spare ribs in the bottom of the kettle, season again, and add a layer of quartered potatoes and bits of butter.
Add small squares of rolled thin baking powder dough, then another layer of spare ribs, repeating until the kettle is two-thirds full.
Pour in the cooking liquid from the ribs and add hot water if needed.
Cover and boil for 30 to 45 minutes, adding hot water to prevent boiling dry.
For the crust, roll out light biscuit dough, cut into squares, let rise, and place on top before cooking.

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.

Pepper + potatotop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,305 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,456 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together85,593 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).