Why it works: Beef and potato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,052 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓
Roast Beef Pie
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Cut the roast beef into thin slices.
Line a deep dish with rolled-out biscuit dough, about ¼ inch thick.
Layer some beef slices in the dish.
Sprinkle with pepper and coarse sea salt.
Add a small bit of butter, a few slices of cold potatoes, and some cold gravy.
Repeat layering with remaining beef, seasoning, and other ingredients until the dish is filled.
Cover with dough, leaving a slit in the center.
Bake at 400°F (200°C) for 30 minutes.
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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Beef + potatotop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,052 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
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Pepper + potatotop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,971 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Biscuit + potatotop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together137 recipes
Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
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Biscuit + peppertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together841 recipes
Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, biscuit, pepper, butter):
- Potatothe original
- Onionfits about as well
- Chivefits about as well
- Spinachfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, biscuit, pepper, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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