Why it works: Meat and potato work together. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 786 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓
Potato Pasty Pan
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Trim and season the meat, then pour a small quantity of gravy over it.
Peel and mash the potatoes, forming a crust at least 3 inches thick.
Bake and serve
Place the meat in a baking dish and cover it with the mashed potatoes.
Bake until the potatoes are browned and the meat is cooked through, about 45 minutes.
Serve with a neatly-folded napkin pinned around the dish.
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.
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Meat + potatotop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together786 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Meat
- Provides the savory filling, cooked through in the oven under the potato crust.
- Potatoes
- Form the mashed crust that holds in moisture and browns on top in the oven.
- Gravy
- Adds moisture and savoriness to the meat so it stays juicy while baking.
The step that matters
Forming the potato crust. The mashed potato must be thick enough to insulate the meat, so it cooks through without drying out, and it needs to reach an even golden brown on top.
“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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