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Potato Pot

A hearty stew of potatoes, beef, bacon, onions, and gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and onion 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 ↓

Potato Pot

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Slice the bacon and cut the beef into small pieces.

  2. Brown them in a frying pan over medium heat.

  3. Peel and slice the onions.

  4. Brown them with the meat.

  5. Peel and quarter the potatoes.

  6. Soak them in cold water.

Make the gravy

  1. Layer the browned meat and onions in a deep baking dish with the potatoes.

  2. Make a pint of gravy by adding boiling water and seasonings to the drippings in the frying pan.

  3. Thicken with flour dissolved in a little cold water.

  4. Pour the gravy over the meat and potatoes.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) for about an hour.

  2. Serve hot, using a clean dish if serving from the baking dish.

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. Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

  2. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

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

  3. Potato + beeftop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,052 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  4. Potato + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,355 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Onion + flourtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together32,460 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef
Provides the main savory meat flavor and substance of the stew.
Bacon
Adds fat and smoky, savory flavor that carries into the drippings for the gravy.
Potatoes
Absorb the gravy and soften during baking, giving the stew body.
Onions
Add sweetness and aroma as they brown with the meat.
Flour
Thickens the gravy so it coats the meat and potatoes.

The step that matters

Thickening the gravy with flour. Flour must be dissolved in cold water before it goes into hot gravy; added dry or to hot liquid it forms lumps, and starch needs to heat fully to thicken properly.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, beef, flour):

  1. Chivefits better
  2. Leekfits about as well
  3. Onionthe original
  4. Okrafits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, beef, flour. 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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