Name: Meat and Tomato Pie
Ingredients: fresh tomatoes (peeled and sliced) or canned tomatoes (drained); cold beef or cold mutton (sliced); flour; pepper; coarse sea salt (formerly 'bay salt'); pastry or bread or cracker crumbs; boiled potatoes or other suitable vegetables (optional); oysters or mushrooms (optional)

Why it works: Tomato and potato match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,798 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Meat and Tomato Pie

Ingredients

fresh tomatoes (peeled and sliced) or canned tomatoes (drained)
cold beef or cold mutton (sliced)
flour
pepper
coarse sea salt (formerly 'bay salt')
pastry or bread or cracker crumbs
boiled potatoes or other suitable vegetables (optional)
oysters or mushrooms (optional)

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

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

Layer the pie

In a baking dish, place a layer of tomatoes.
Add a layer of sliced meat on top of the tomatoes.
Dredge flour, pepper, and salt over the meat.
Repeat layering until the dish is nearly full.
Top with an extra layer of tomatoes.
Cover the entire dish with pastry or bread or cracker crumbs.
If using a small quantity of meat, add boiled potatoes or other vegetables.
For added flavor, include a few oysters or mushrooms.

Bake

Bake for 30 to 60 minutes, depending on the size of the pie.

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.

Tomato + potatotop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,798 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,923 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Tomato + beeftop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,448 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Beef + potatotop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,052 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).

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

What each ingredient does

Tomatoes: Provide moisture and acidity that keep the meat layers juicy and add bright flavor.
Cold beef or mutton: Supplies the meat layers, which become tender and savory as they bake.
Flour: Dredged over the meat, it helps thicken the juices that collect in the dish.
Pastry, bread, or cracker crumbs: Forms the topping that covers the pie and browns as it bakes.

Swap the potato

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

Capsicumfits better
Okrafits about as well
Potatothe original
Shallotfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, beef, flour, pepper, bread, oyster. 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.