Why it works: Onion and potato 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 ↓
Potatoe Pie
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Skin the potatoes and cut them into slices.
Season the potato slices and the meat.
Assemble and bake
Layer the potato slices and meat in a pie dish.
Pour milk over the layers and cover with a crust.
Bake until the crust is golden brown.
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.
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Onion + potatotop 3% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,023 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Milk + potatotop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,611 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
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Onion + muttontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,531 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Potato + muttontop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together293 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + muttontop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together814 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
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 and become tender as the pie cooks.
- Mutton, beef, pork, or veal
- Supplies the meat layer and rich savory flavour in the filling.
- Milk
- Adds moisture to the layers and helps the filling turn creamy as it bakes.
Swap the onion
The recipe marks onion as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, potato, mutton):
- Asparagusfits about as well
- Tomatofits about as well
- Onionthe original
- Carrotfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, potato, mutton. 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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