Name: Savory Pie
Ingredients: Boiled Potatoes; Stewed Asparagus; Brown Bread; White Bread

Why it works: Potato and asparagus match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 217 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Savory Pie

Ingredients

Boiled Potatoes
Stewed Asparagus
Brown Bread
White Bread

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare boiled potatoes and stewed asparagus.
Layer the boiled potatoes and asparagus in a pie dish.
Cover with a layer of brown and white bread.
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until heated through.

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.

Potato + asparagustop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together217 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Asparagus + breadtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together363 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Potato + breadtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together434 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).