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Meat Patties

A baked patty made from diced tinned meat mixed with flour, fat, baking powder, salt, pepper, herbs, and gravy or water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Beef and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,971 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Meat Patties

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare the filling

  1. Cut the meat into small dice.

  2. Add the other ingredients and mix well.

Assemble the patties

  1. Set aside 8 rounds of pastry for the lids.

  2. Roll out the remaining pastry and line shallow patty-pans.

  3. Place the meat mixture in the pans, piling it high.

  4. Make a small hole in the top of each patty.

Bake

  1. Brush with egg or milk.

  2. Bake at 400°F (200°C) for about 20 minutes.

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. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

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

  2. Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Flour + beeftop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together10,677 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and beef barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 10,677 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Flour
Forms the pastry that holds the filling and gives the patties their structure.
Fat
Shortens the pastry, keeping it tender and flaky as it bakes.
Baking powder
Releases gas during baking to help the pastry rise and lighten.
Beef
Forms the savoury filling that gives the patties their main body and flavour.
Gravy or water
Adds moisture to the meat filling so it stays juicy while baking.

The step that matters

Make a small hole in the top of each patty. The hole lets steam escape as the filling heats, so pressure does not build up and split the pastry or push out the lid unevenly.

“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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