Why it works: Flour and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 50,459 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Beefsteak and Kidney Pie
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
Cut the steak into thin strips about 1 inch wide.
Roll up the strips and dip them in the flour mixed with salt and pepper.
Place a layer of steak at the bottom of a pie dish.
Slice the kidney thinly, removing all the fat, and season it.
Add a layer of kidney over the steak, and continue layering until the dish is full, raising it nicely in the center.
Half fill the dish with stock.
Top and bake
Wet the edges of the dish and cover them with strips of pastry, moisten these, and cover with more pastry.
Cut a hole in the center and decorate the top of the pie with pastry leaves.
Brush the top with egg and bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) for about 10 minutes.
Reduce the temperature to 350°F (175°C) and bake for about 1.5 hours.
When cooked, fill the pie with well-seasoned gravy.
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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Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Steak
- Forms the main meat filling and becomes tender during the long, slow bake.
- Kidney
- Adds rich, savoury flavour and a firmer, denser texture to the filling.
- Flour
- Coats the steak strips, helping thicken the juices into a rich gravy.
- Pastry
- Forms a crisp, golden crust that seals in the filling and browns in the oven.
The step that matters
Raising the filling in the center. Layering the meat high in the middle keeps the crust from sinking as the meat shrinks while cooking. A full dish with a domed center also helps the pastry bake evenly over the filling.
“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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