Why it works: Flour and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 50,459 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Beefsteak and Kidney Pie
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 filling
Cut the steak into thin strips about 1½ inches wide.
Roll up the strips and dip them in the flour mixed with salt and pepper.
Place a layer of steak at the bottom of a pie dish.
Slice the kidney thinly, removing all the fat, and season it.
Add a layer of kidney over the steak, and continue layering until the dish is full, raising it nicely in the center.
Half fill the dish with stock.
Top and bake
Wet the edges of the dish and cover them with strips of pastry, moistening these as well.
Cover with more pastry, cut a hole in the center, and decorate the top with pastry leaves.
Brush with egg and bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for about 10 minutes.
Then reduce the temperature to 350°F (175°C) and bake for about 1½ hours.
When the pie is cooked, fill it up with well-seasoned gravy.
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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Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Steak
- Provides the main meaty body and savory flavor of the filling.
- Kidney
- Adds a rich, deep meaty flavor and a firmer, chewy texture to the filling.
- Flour
- Coats the meat and thickens the stock into a gravy that holds the filling together.
- Pastry
- Forms a crisp, golden shell that encloses the filling and browns in the oven.
The step that matters
Baking at two temperatures. Starting hot at 400°F sets and browns the pastry quickly, then lowering to 350°F lets the meat cook through gently and become tender without the crust burning.
“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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