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Cold Meat and Potato, Baked

A baked casserole of cold meat and mashed potatoes, seasoned with butter, onion, flour, and milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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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 ↓

Cold Meat and Potato, Baked

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the filling

  1. In a frying pan, melt the cold butter over medium heat.

  2. Stir in the chopped onion and flour, mixing until smooth and frothy.

  3. Add the cold milk or water, seasoning with salt and pepper, and bring to a boil.

  4. Stir in the finely chopped cold meat and heat thoroughly.

Assemble and bake

  1. Transfer the mixture to a well-buttered shallow dish.

  2. Spread the mashed potatoes over the top.

  3. Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) for 15 to 20 minutes.

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 + potatotop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Pepper + potatotop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

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

  4. Milk + potatotop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Butter
Enriches the flavor and, with flour, forms the base that thickens the sauce.
Flour
Thickens the liquid into a smooth sauce that binds the meat together.
Milk or water
Forms the liquid that the flour thickens into a moist, creamy binder.
Cold meat
Provides the main filling, becoming tender and heated through in the sauce.
Mashed potatoes
Forms a soft topping that bakes into a lightly browned crust.

The step that matters

Bring the sauce to a boil before adding the meat. Flour thickens only when the liquid boils and the starch swells, so a sauce that is not fully thickened will be thin and runny under the potatoes.

Swap the onion

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

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

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