Name: Veal Pot-pie
Ingredients: 1 scrag and knuckle of veal; a few slices of pork; pepper to taste; coarse sea salt to taste; cold water; 6 to 8 small potatoes; raised dough

Why it works: Pork and potato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,668 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓

Veal Pot-pie

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the meat

Fry the pork slices in a soup pot.
Cut the veal and knuckle into small pieces and add to the pot.
Season with pepper and salt, then cover the meat with cold water.
Boil for 2 to 3 hours.

Add the crust and finish

Add the small potatoes.
If not seasoned enough, add more pepper or salt.
Roll out the raised dough to about ½ inch thick and cut into pieces to cover the meat.
Cover the pot tightly and let it stew for 30 minutes.
When serving, place the crust around the dish and put the meat and potatoes in the center.

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.

Pork + potatotop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,668 recipes

Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
Pepper + potatotop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,305 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Veal + porktop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,930 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
Pork + peppertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together22,121 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Veal + peppertop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,049 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Veal: Provides the main meat and rich flavour as it simmers into the broth.
Pork: Fried first to add browned, savoury flavour to the pot.
Raised dough: Forms the crust that covers the meat and steams during stewing.
Potatoes: Absorb broth flavour and add body to the filling.