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Meat Patties

A fried patty made from finely chopped lean meat, onions, pepper, salt, and pie crust dough.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 68,474 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Meat Patties

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. Remove all fat from the meat and chop it very finely by hand.

  2. Chop the onions finely, cover with water, and boil until softened.

  3. Add the chopped meat, pepper, and salt to the onions and cook for 20 minutes.

  4. Ensure the meat mixture is moist but not too juicy.

Assemble and fry

  1. Prepare pie crust dough using ice water and ½ pound of butter.

  2. Cut the dough into circles, place meat on half, fold over, and pinch edges to seal.

  3. Fry the patties in deep hot lard until golden brown.

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.

  1. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  2. Onion + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Meat + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,594 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Meat + oniontop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,364 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Meat + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,777 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Lean meat
Provides the savory protein base of the filling.
Onions
Add moisture and sweetness to the filling as they soften.
Butter
Adds fat and richness to the pie crust dough, contributing to flakiness.
Lard
Fries the patties, conducting heat to brown the crust and add richness.

The step that matters

Keeping the meat mixture moist but not too juicy. Excess liquid in the filling can soak the dough and make it soggy or cause it to tear during sealing and frying, while a filling that is too dry will taste tough and crumbly.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, pepper, butter):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Asparagusfits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, pepper, butter. 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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