Name: Beefsteak Pie
Ingredients: beefsteaks; pepper; coarse sea salt; 1 shallot, minced; fat (such as beef fat); 1 cup water or broth; pie crust

Why it works: Pepper and beef are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,971 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Beefsteak Pie

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Take well-hung beefsteaks and heat them gently with a circular steak-beater.
Season the steaks with pepper, coarse sea salt, and minced shallot.
Roll each slice with a piece of fat and fill your pie dish.
Add some crust on the edge and an inch below it, then pour in the water or broth.
Cover with a thick crust and bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C).

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.

Pepper + beeftop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,971 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Pepper + shallottop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,898 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Shallot + beeftop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,103 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).