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Roman Pie

A savory pie with macaroni, cheese, meat, onion, and cream, baked in a crust of flour and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and mustard match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,259 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Roman Pie

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the crust

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

  2. Work the butter into the flour.

  3. Add enough cold water to mix.

  4. Roll out into a thin piece of dough.

  5. Butter a dish that holds about 4 cups and dust with crushed vermicelli.

  6. Line the bottom and sides of the dish with the dough.

  7. Wet the edges to seal.

  8. Reserve a round piece of dough for the top.

Prepare the filling

  1. Break the macaroni into 1-inch pieces.

  2. Cook in boiling salted water for 15 minutes.

  3. Drain.

  4. Boil the onion separately for 15 minutes.

  5. Drain the onion.

  6. Chop the onion.

  7. Slice the cooked rabbit or chicken.

  8. Combine it with the grated cheese, cooked macaroni, and chopped onion in a bowl.

  9. Add salt, pepper, mustard, and cream to the mixture.

  10. Mix well.

Bake and serve

  1. Pour the filling into the prepared dish.

  2. Wet the edges of the dough.

  3. Place the reserved round piece on top.

  4. Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes until the pastry is cooked.

  5. Turn out the pie.

  6. Serve with brown gravy.

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 + mustardtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,259 recipes

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

  2. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

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

  5. Rabbit + mustardtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together56 recipes

    Shared aroma: geraniol (rose, geranium).

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

What each ingredient does

Flour
Forms the dough that holds the pie together and encloses the filling.
Butter
Adds fat that tenderizes the pastry and adds richness.
Grated cheese
Melts into the filling, adding richness and savoury flavour that binds the mixture.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness, helping the filling set softly as it bakes.
Macaroni
Provides bulk and body to the filling, giving it a substantial texture.
Cooked rabbit or chicken
Supplies the main protein and savoury meaty flavour of the filling.

The step that matters

Wet the edges to seal. Water helps the dough edges stick together so the filling stays sealed inside the pastry while baking.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, butter, cheese, rabbit, pepper, mustard, cream):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Chivefits better
  3. Spinachfits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, butter, cheese, rabbit, pepper, mustard, cream. 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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