Name: Potato Pasty
Ingredients: ½ lb. of pastry; ½ lb. of raw lean beef, diced; ½ lb. of parboiled potatoes, diced; 1 very small onion, cooked and finely chopped; pepper to taste; coarse sea salt to taste; 2-3 tablespoons of gravy or water

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 ↓

Potato Pasty

Ingredients

½ lb. of pastry
½ lb. of raw lean beef, diced
½ lb. of parboiled potatoes, diced
1 very small onion, cooked and finely chopped
pepper to taste
coarse sea salt to taste
2-3 tablespoons of gravy or water

Directions

Make the pastry as directed and roll it out into a round shape.
Mix the beef, potatoes, and onion together, season with pepper and salt, and moisten with gravy or water.
Place the meat mixture on one half of the pastry, wet the edges, and fold the other half over.
Seal the edges securely and prick the top to allow steam to escape.

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.

Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,023 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,092 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Beef + potatotop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,052 recipes

Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,305 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,971 recipes

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