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 ↓
Pork Pie
Ingredients
Directions
Make the filling
Mix the lean pork, salt pork, onion, and potatoes in a bowl.
Pour hot water over the mixture and add butter, pepper, and salt.
Stew until the meat is tender.
Assemble and bake
Line a deep pan with rich biscuit dough.
Pour the stew into the lined pan and cover with strips of dough.
Bake until the crust is golden brown.
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.
-
Onion + potatotop 3% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,023 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Pork + potatotop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,668 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
-
Onion + biscuittop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together428 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
-
Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
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
- Lean pork steak
- Provides the main meat, which becomes tender with slow, moist stewing.
- Salt pork
- Adds fat and savory flavor that enriches the stew and moistens the meat.
- Potatoes
- Break down slightly during stewing, giving the filling body and thickness.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth, rounded flavor to the stew.
- Rich biscuit dough
- Forms a sturdy crust that holds the filling and browns in the oven.
The step that matters
Stew until the meat is tender. Lean pork can turn dry and tough if it is not cooked long enough. Slow, moist heat breaks down connective tissue, so the meat becomes tender only when it is cooked through gently.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, potato, butter, pepper, biscuit):
- Onionthe original
- Chivefits about as well
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Asparagusfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against pork, potato, butter, 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.
More pork pie recipes
You might also like
Potato Biscuit32 recipes
Potato Croquettes255 recipes
Pork Cake107 recipes
Roast Pork82 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.