Why it works: Pepper and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 68,474 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Mutton Pie
Ingredients
Directions
Cut steaks from a loin or neck of mutton that has hung and beat them to tenderize.
Remove some of the fat and season the meat with salt, pepper, and a little onion.
Place a little water at the bottom of a baking dish and add a small amount of pastry dough around the edge.
Cover the meat with a moderately thick layer of pastry dough.
Alternatively, make small pies, breaking each bone in two to shorten it, season, and cover with pastry, pinching the edges to seal.
When baked, pour a spoonful of gravy made from a bit of butter into each pie.
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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Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Onion + buttertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together42,912 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Mutton + peppertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together5,442 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Mutton + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,781 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Mutton + oniontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,531 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, pepper, butter):
- Potatofits about as well
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Carrotfits about as well
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, pepper, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
More mutton pie recipes
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