Why it works: Liver and pork are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,606 recipes. Both carry 1-nonanal, which smells fatty, waxy. The science ↓
Cornish Pasties
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the filling
Cut the mutton into thick square pieces and season with salt, pepper, and chopped onions, mushrooms, or herbs.
If using, finely chop the kidney or liver and mix it with the cold meat.
Prepare well-seasoned stock and thicken it with brown flour.
Assemble and cook
Line a basin with a thin crust, distribute the meat mixture inside, and cover with another layer of crust.
Boil, bake, or steam the pudding for about 1.5 hours if the crust is thin.
Serve
Serve small puddings to each person for better satisfaction.
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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Liver + porktop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,606 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-nonanal (fatty, waxy).
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Onion + porktop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,214 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Mutton + porktop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,239 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-nonanal (fatty, waxy).
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Onion + livertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,420 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cold shoulder of mutton
- Provides the main meat filling, which becomes tender during long cooking.
- Brown flour
- Thickens the stock so the filling holds together with moisture rather than running out.
- Thin crust
- Forms the enclosing pastry that holds the filling and cooks through in the pudding.
- Sheep's kidney or liver
- Adds richness and savoury depth to the meat filling, when used.
The step that matters
Thickening the stock with brown flour. Flour must be cooked into the stock so it thickens smoothly without lumps. Unthickened stock stays thin and can soak the crust, leaving the filling watery.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, pepper, liver, flour, pork):
- Potatofits about as well
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Turnipfits about as well
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, pepper, liver, flour, pork. 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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