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Yam Pie

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12,525 recipes. Both carry trans-2-decenal, which smells waxy, orange. The science ↓

Yam 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.

  1. Peel and slice the yams thinly.

  2. Butter the edges of a large pie dish and line it with pie crust.

  3. Cut the mutton into chops, trim off bones and fat.

  4. Slice the sheep's kidneys and cut the cow-heel into small pieces.

  5. Mix the mutton, kidneys, cow-heel, mushrooms, onion, and seasoning in the pie dish.

  6. Moisten with a small amount of water and cover with a layer of sliced yams.

  7. Cover the pie with a thin layer of paste, moisten and press the edges together, trimming off excess paste and making a hole in the center.

  8. Cover the pie with paper and bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven.

  9. Stew the mutton and cow-heel bones with mushroom and oyster trimmings in 1 pint of water until flavorful, then strain and keep hot.

  10. When the pie is cooked, pour the gravy through the hole at the top and serve hot.

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. Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  2. Yam + oniontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together106 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Mushroom + oniontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,626 recipes

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

  4. Mutton + mushroomtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together685 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  5. Butter + oniontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

Swap the yam

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, mutton, mushroom, onion):

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Shallotfits better
  3. Leekfits better
  4. Yamthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, mutton, mushroom, onion. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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