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 ↓
Potato Pie
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
Trim mutton cutlets from the best part of a neck of mutton.
Season with coarse sea salt and black pepper.
Assemble and bake
Layer cutlets in a pie dish with sliced onions and uncooked potatoes.
Fill the dish and pour in 1 pint of consommé.
Cover with a perforated lid and top with nicely mashed potatoes.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) for one hour.
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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Pepper + potatotop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Mutton + peppertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together5,442 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Mutton + oniontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,531 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Mutton cutlets
- Provide the main meat, whose juices and fat flavour the pie as it cooks.
- Onions
- Add sweetness and savoury depth as they soften in the juices.
- Uncooked potatoes
- Cook in the pie's juices, thickening the filling and adding body.
- Consommé
- Adds moisture and savoury flavour, keeping the filling from drying out in the oven.
- Mashed potatoes
- Form a soft topping that seals in moisture and browns lightly on the surface.
The step that matters
Pour in the consommé before covering. The liquid must reach the layers so the uncooked potatoes and meat can cook through and not dry out. Without enough moisture, the filling can turn dry and the potatoes stay firm in the centre.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, pepper, potato):
- Carrotfits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Tomatofits about as well
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, pepper, potato. 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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