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Potato-pasty

A baked potato dish shaped into a conical heap, seasoned with milk, butter, pepper, salt, and optional onion.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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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-pasty

Ingredients

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

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Mash the potatoes with milk and a good amount of butter, seasoning with pepper and coarse sea salt.

  3. If using for beef or mutton, add a shredded onion if desired.

Shape and bake

  1. Shape the mashed potatoes into a conical heap on a pie dish.

  2. Press some of the mash through a colander to create a decorative pattern on top.

  3. Dot the surface with small bits of butter.

  4. If the potatoes might overcook, wait to cover with the perforated lid until the meat is partially cooked.

  5. Bake for the same duration as a regular pie of the same size.

Serve

  1. Serve with a napkin or a decorative pie dish cover.

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. Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

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

  4. Potato + milktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

  5. Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 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-free crust, giving a soft, starchy body that holds its shape.
Milk
Adds moisture and richness, keeping the mash smooth and creamy.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and flavor, and helps the top brown as it melts.

The step that matters

Covering the potatoes with the lid. If the potatoes are covered too early, they may overcook before the meat is ready. Waiting until the meat is partly cooked keeps the mash from drying or overbaking.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Asparagusfits about as well
  3. Tomatofits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

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