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Casserole of Cold Meat

A potato casserole with cold meat, browned crumb crust, and egg glaze.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Casserole of Cold Meat

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the potatoes

  1. Boil the potatoes until tender.

  2. Dry the boiled potatoes well.

  3. Mash the potatoes.

  4. Mix in the butter, salt, pepper, and all but a small amount of the egg.

Build the casserole

  1. Grease a plain mold.

  2. Line the mold with browned crumbs.

  3. Spread the potato mixture evenly over the bottom and sides, leaving a hollow for the meat.

  4. Brush the top with the reserved egg.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven until firm and brown at the edges.

  2. Turn the casserole onto a dish and fill it with the prepared meat.

  3. Garnish with parsley or bacon rolls if using veal.

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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,855 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

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

  4. Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,456 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  5. Potato + meattop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together786 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

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

What each ingredient does

Potatoes
Form the mashed base that holds the casserole's shape and gives it a soft, tender texture.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture to the mashed potato, softening its texture.
Egg
Binds the potato mixture so it sets firm, and browns the surface when brushed on top.
Cold meat
Forms the filling, providing the savory main body of the dish.

The step that matters

Drying the boiled potatoes well. Excess water left in the potatoes dilutes the mash and keeps it loose, so the casserole may not set firm when baked.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, pepper, egg, meat, parsley):

  1. Shallotfits about as well
  2. Potatothe original
  3. Capsicumfits about as well
  4. Carrotfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, pepper, egg, meat, parsley. 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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