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Beefsteak Pie

A savory pie with diced beef, ham, onions, potatoes, and stock, baked in pastry.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 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 ↓

Beefsteak Pie

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate 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 butter over medium heat.

  2. Add the diced steak, ham, and chopped onions; simmer for 15 minutes.

  3. Stir in the sliced potatoes, beef stock, salt, pepper, and flour; cook for 20 minutes.

Bake

  1. Pour the mixture into a baking dish lined with pastry.

  2. Cover and bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until done.

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

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

  3. Beef + potatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,052 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  4. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

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

  5. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 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

Beef steak
Provides the meaty body and savory flavor of the filling as it simmers.
Potatoes
Add starch that thickens the filling and gives it a hearty texture.
Flour
Thickens the stock into a stable sauce that holds the filling together.
Beef stock
Supplies moisture and savory depth that cooks the other ingredients.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, and helps the onions brown in the pan.
Onions
Soften and turn sweet as they cook, adding aroma to the filling.

The step that matters

Cooking the flour into the stock. Flour only thickens the liquid properly when it is heated long enough with the stock. Stirring it in and simmering for the full time lets the starch swell and the raw flour taste cook off, so the filling does not stay thin or floury.

Swap the onion

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, ham, butter, potato, pepper, 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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