Why it works: Onion and potato 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 ↓
Meat Pie
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the filling
In a pot, cover the meat with cold water and add the chopped onion.
Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until the meat is tender.
Mix the flour with an equal volume of cold water to create a slurry, then add more water to make it pour freely.
Thicken the gravy with the flour mixture and season with salt and pepper.
Add the parboiled potatoes to the meat mixture and stir to combine.
Bake and serve
Transfer the mixture to a baking dish and cover with baking powder biscuit dough.
Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) until the top is brown, about 20 to 30 minutes.
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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Onion + potatotop 3% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,023 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Onion + biscuittop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together428 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Flour + biscuittop 9% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together889 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Potato + biscuittop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together137 recipes
Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Meat
- Provides the main savory body of the filling and becomes tender through slow simmering.
- All-purpose flour
- Thickens the cooking liquid into a gravy as its starch swells with heat.
- Potatoes
- Add starchy bulk and soft texture to the filling after being parboiled.
- Baking powder biscuit dough
- Forms a risen, browned topping as leavening gases expand in the oven.
The step that matters
Thickening the gravy with the flour slurry. Flour must be mixed smoothly with cold water first, because dry flour added directly to hot liquid forms lumps. Starch granules swell and thicken the gravy only once it is hot and well dispersed.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, potato, flour, pepper, biscuit):
- Spinachfits better
- Arrowrootfits better
- Okrafits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against meat, potato, flour, pepper, biscuit. 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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