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Mutton and Potato Pie

A savory pie with layers of sliced mutton, potatoes, onions, and gravy, baked until golden.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and onion 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 ↓

Mutton and Potato Pie

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Cut the mutton into small thin slices.

  2. Parboil and slice the potatoes and onions.

Layer and bake

  1. Line the bottom of a pie dish with potato.

  2. Cover with a layer of mutton and a few slices of onion, seasoning liberally with salt and pepper.

  3. Repeat layers until all ingredients are used, finishing with a layer of potato.

  4. Pour in the gravy.

  5. Cover with greased paper and bake for about 1 hour at 350°F (175°C).

  6. Remove the paper 15 minutes before serving to allow the potatoes to brown.

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. Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  4. Mutton + meattop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together936 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  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

Mutton
Forms the meat layers, providing the savoury body of the pie.
Potatoes
Form the starchy layers that soften in the oven and then brown on top.
Gravy
Adds moisture that keeps the meat and potato layers from drying as they bake.

The step that matters

Remove the paper 15 minutes before serving. Covering with greased paper traps steam so the meat and potatoes cook through gently. Removing it late lets the potato surface dry and brown, which is why timing matters.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, potato, meat, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits about as well
  2. Carrotfits about as well
  3. Asparagusfits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, potato, meat, pepper. 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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