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A Fine Beefsteak Pie

A layered beefsteak pie with broth, seasoned with salt, pepper, and mushroom powder.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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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 ↓

A Fine Beefsteak Pie

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the beef

  1. Cut the beef steaks into large pieces.

  2. Fry the beef quickly over high heat.

Layer and finish

  1. Layer the beef in a dish, sprinkling salt, pepper, and mushroom powder between each layer.

  2. Pour 1 pint of strong broth over the layered beef.

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. Beef + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

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

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

  3. Pepper + mushroomtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,580 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef steaks
Provides the meat that forms the body and bulk of the pie.
Mushroom powder
Adds concentrated savory, umami flavor to the beef layers.
Strong broth
Adds moisture and savory depth to the layered beef.

The step that matters

Fry the beef quickly over high heat. High heat browns the surface of the beef quickly, creating savory flavor through the Maillard reaction. Crowding the pan or cooking slowly would steam the meat gray instead of browning it.

“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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