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Sea Pie

A savory pie made with a crust of flour, baking powder, salt, pork fat, and water, layered with onions, potatoes, and pork.

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 ↓

Sea Pie

Ingredients

Directions

Make the crust

  1. In a bowl, mix flour, baking powder, and salt.

  2. Rub in the pork fat or lard until crumbly.

  3. Gradually add water to form a smooth paste.

  4. Line a deep pudding dish with the crust.

Layer and seal

  1. Layer sliced onions, potatoes, and pork in the dish, repeating until full.

  2. Wet the edges of the crust and cover with a top crust.

  3. Tie a floured cloth over the top and place in a pot of boiling water.

Boil and serve

  1. Ensure the water covers two-thirds of the dish and boil for four hours.

  2. Invert onto a serving dish, remove the mold, and serve hot.

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. Pork + potatotop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,668 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  3. Pork + oniontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,214 recipes

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

  4. Flour + potatotop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,355 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Flour + oniontop 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

All-purpose flour
Forms the dough structure that holds the filling together as it cooks.
Baking powder
Releases gas during cooking, helping the crust rise and stay light.
Pork fat or lard
Rubbed into the flour to make the crust short and tender.
Water
Hydrates the flour to form a smooth, workable paste for the crust.
Pork
Provides the main meat filling, releasing juices that flavor the potatoes and onions.

The step that matters

Ensure the water covers two-thirds of the dish and boil for four hours.. If the water level drops or the boil is weak, the crust and filling cook unevenly and the crust may turn soggy. Steady, sustained boiling heats the dish and cooks the pork through.

Swap the onion

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, pork, 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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