Why it works: Thyme and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓
Roman Pie
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a hot oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Line a greased round cake tin with short pastry.
Pass the cooked meat through a mincing machine.
Boil the macaroni or spaghetti until tender, then cut it into small pieces.
Slice the hard-boiled eggs.
In a bowl, mix the minced meat, pasta, sliced eggs, parsley, thyme, and brown sauce.
Assemble and bake
Fill the pastry case with the mixture.
Brush the edges of the pastry with egg.
Cover with another round of pastry and seal the edges.
Decorate the top of the pie, then make a large hole in the center.
Add decorative leaves to the hole and brush the top of the pie with egg.
Bake for 1 hour.
Serve
Carefully turn out onto a cloth, then place the pie onto a serving dish.
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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Thyme + parsleytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,057 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Meat + thymetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,008 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Meat + parsleytop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,040 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Parsley + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,765 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Meat + saucetop 22% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,167 recipes
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cooked meat
- Forms the bulk and savoury filling of the pie.
- Macaroni or spaghetti
- Adds body and soft texture to the minced filling.
- Hard-boiled eggs
- Add firmness and richness to the filling when sliced through.
- Good brown sauce
- Moistens the filling and adds savoury depth of flavour.
- Short pastry
- Forms a rich, crisp case that holds the filling while baking.
- Egg for brushing
- Gives the pastry a golden, glossy browned surface when baked.
The step that matters
Seal the edges of the pastry. A tight seal keeps the moist filling from leaking out and stops the crust from separating during baking.
Swap the thyme
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, parsley, egg, sauce):
- Capersfits better
- Tarragonfits about as well
- Nutmegfits about as well
- Thymethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against meat, parsley, egg, sauce. 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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