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
Ingredients
Directions
Cut the steak into strips 1½ inches long and 1 inch wide.
Place in a saucepan, cover with boiling water, add the sliced onion, and simmer until the meat is tender.
Remove the meat and discard the onion.
Add the potatoes to the liquid and parboil for 6 minutes, then remove the potatoes.
Measure the liquid and add enough boiling water to make 1 pint, then add the seasonings.
Cream the butter and flour together, add to the liquid, and cook for 5 minutes.
In a pudding dish, layer half the potatoes, then the meat, and top with the remaining potatoes.
Pour enough gravy over to cover the contents of the baking dish.
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.
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Onion + potatotop 3% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,023 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + potatotop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,456 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, butter, potato, pepper):
- Chivefits better
- Spinachfits better
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, butter, potato, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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