Why it works: Beef and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,232 recipes. Both carry 2,4-nonadienal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Beef Steak and Mushroom Pie
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the filling
Mix flour, salt, and pepper on a plate.
Place a slice of kidney on each slice of meat.
Dip the kidney-sliced meat in the seasoning.
Roll the seasoned meat into small rolls.
Layer the rolls in a dish.
Add chopped mushrooms to the dish.
Add the remaining meat to the dish.
Pour stock or water into the dish until it is three-quarters full.
Top with pastry
Roll out Rough Puff Pastry to a thickness of ⅓ inch and larger than the dish.
Cut a strip from the pastry.
Moisten the edge of the dish with water.
Attach the pastry strip to the edge of the dish.
Cover the pie with the remaining pastry.
Press the edges together.
Trim the pastry with a floured knife.
Decorate the top with leftover pastry.
Brush the top with egg.
Cut a steam hole in the top.
Bake
Bake in a moderate oven (350°F/175°C), starting in the hot part until the pastry rises.
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 + mushroomtop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,232 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
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Pepper + beeftop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,971 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Pepper + mushroomtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,580 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + mushroomtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,253 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Flour
- Coats the meat, helping the seasoning cling and thickening the juices in the dish.
- Beef steak
- Provides the main meaty body of the filling, becoming tender during the long bake.
- Kidney
- Adds a rich, savoury depth to the filling.
- Mushrooms
- Add moisture and earthy flavour to the filling as they release their juices.
- Rough puff pastry
- Its layers of fat and dough puff with steam to form a flaky, crisp top crust.
- Egg
- Brushed on top, it helps the crust brown to a glossy golden colour.
The step that matters
Bake in a hot start. Starting in the hot part of the oven lets the pastry's fat create steam quickly, so the layers rise and set before the crust over-browns.
“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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