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A Beef Pie

A savory pie filled with sliced roast beef and a mashed potato crust.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 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 ↓

A Beef Pie

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Layer the filling

  1. Layer thin slices of cold roast beef or steak in a pie dish.

  2. Sprinkle with flour, pepper, and coarse sea salt.

  3. Add chopped tomato or finely chopped onion if available.

  4. Repeat layers of beef and seasoning until the dish is filled.

  5. Pour in beef gravy or beef drippings and enough water to create gravy.

Make the potato crust

  1. In a bowl, mix boiled and mashed potatoes with milk or cream, butter, and salt.

  2. Spread the potato mixture over the beef as a crust, about 1 inch thick.

Bake and finish

  1. Brush the top with beaten egg.

  2. Bake at 400°F (200°C) for about 25 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. Tomato + potatotop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,798 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  5. Pepper + tomatotop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 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

Cold roast beef or steak
Forms the main filling and gives the pie its meaty flavour.
Flour
Sprinkled over the layers to help thicken the gravy as the pie bakes.
Potatoes
Mashed into a soft crust that holds the filling and browns on top.
Milk or cream
Adds moisture and richness to the mashed potato, keeping it soft and spreadable.
Butter
Adds fat and richness to the mashed potato crust.
Egg
Brushed on top to promote browning and a glossy finish.

The step that matters

Spreading the potato crust. The mashed potato must be smooth and spread evenly over the filling so it seals the pie. Gaps let the gravy bubble out and scorch, and uneven thickness bakes unevenly.

Swap the tomato

The recipe marks tomato as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, flour, pepper, onion, potato, milk, butter):

  1. Chivefits better
  2. Leekfits about as well
  3. Capsicumfits about as well
  4. Tomatothe original

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