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Conusb Pasties

A pastry filled with minced beef, potatoes, onion, and brown sauce, baked until golden.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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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 ↓

Conusb Pasties

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the filling

  1. Mince the beef, potatoes, and onion finely.

  2. Add the brown sauce, salt, and pepper; mix well.

Assemble the pasties

  1. Roll out the short crust pastry and cut into 4-inch rounds.

  2. Place a tablespoon of the mixture in the center of each round.

  3. Beat the egg.

  4. Brush the beaten egg around the edges of each round.

  5. Press the edges together.

  6. Form a frill on top.

  7. Brush the tops with egg.

Bake

  1. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 20 minutes.

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. Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

  2. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

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

  3. Beef + potatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,052 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  4. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

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

  5. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Cooked beef
Provides the main savoury filling and bulk of the pasty.
Cold boiled potatoes
Adds body and soaks up juices, helping the filling hold together.
Boiled onion
Contributes sweetness and aroma as it cooks inside the pastry.
Egg
Brushed on as a glaze, it promotes browning and a glossy finish.

The step that matters

Press the edges together. A weak seal lets juices escape during baking and can leave the filling dry or the pastry soggy. Sealing firmly with egg helps the edges stay closed as the pastry expands in the oven.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, potato, sauce, pepper, egg):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Tomatofits about as well
  3. Chivefits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, potato, sauce, pepper, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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