Name: Potato Pie
Ingredients: 4 medium potatoes; 1 onion, sliced; 1 tomato, sliced; 2 cloves; ¼ teaspoon pepper; ¼ teaspoon coarse sea salt; 2 tablespoons water; 1 pie crust

Why it works: Potato and onion 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 ↓

Potato 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.

Prepare

Parboil the potatoes until tender.
Slice the potatoes.

Assemble and bake

Layer the potatoes, onions, and tomatoes in a pie dish.
Add cloves, pepper, salt, and water between layers until the dish is full.
Cover the dish with the pie crust.
Bake at 400°F (200°C) until golden brown.
Serve with a decorative frill around the dish.

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.

Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,023 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together17,451 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Potato + tomatotop 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).
Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,633 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

Potatoes: Form the bulk of the filling, becoming soft and tender when parboiled and baked.
Onion: Adds savory flavor and aroma as it softens and sweetens during baking.
Tomato: Adds acidity and moisture that blends into the layers as the pie bakes.
Pie crust: Encloses the filling and browns in the oven to form a golden top.