Why it works: Beef and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,971 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Giblet Pie
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the giblets and meat
Clean the giblets thoroughly.
Soak goose giblets in saltwater for 30 minutes to remove strong taste.
Cut the gizzard into 4 slices and the heart into 2.
Remove pen feathers from pinions after plunging in boiling water.
Pour boiling water on the head, skin it, split it open, remove the eyes, and chop off the beak.
Cut the ox-cheek or shin of beef into small pieces, dip in a mixture of flour, salt, and pepper.
Stew and bake
Place all pieces in a stew-pan, cover with second stock, and stew slowly for 2 hours.
Prepare a pie dish with plain dripping paste.
Once the giblets and meat have stewed, place them in the pie dish, cover with paste, and bake for 30 minutes.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,971 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Beef + flourtop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together10,677 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Beef and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 10,677 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
What each ingredient does
- Giblets
- Provide the main meat and rich flavour of the filling.
- Ox-cheek or shin of beef
- Becomes tender through slow stewing, adding body to the filling.
- Flour
- Coats the meat and helps thicken the stewing liquid.
- Second stock
- Moistens and flavours the meat as it stews slowly.
- Plain dripping paste
- Forms the pastry crust that encloses the filling and browns in the oven.
The step that matters
Stewing the giblets and meat slowly. Slow, gentle stewing in liquid breaks down the connective tissue in the beef and tough giblets. Rapid boiling toughens the meat and can leave the filling dry or chewy under the crust.
“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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