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Cornish Pasties

A pastry filled with beef, potato, onion, and herbs, baked until golden.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 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 ↓

Cornish Pasties

eight pasties
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.

Prepare the filling

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. In a bowl, combine the beef, potatoes, onion, herbs, salt, pepper, and gravy; mix well.

  3. In another bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, and salt.

Make the pasties

  1. Rub in the fat lightly, then add water gradually to form a dough.

  2. Divide the dough into eight equal portions and roll each into a round shape.

  3. Place the meat mixture in the center of each round, wet the edges, and fold to seal, creating a frill on top.

  4. Prick each pasty two or three times with a fork.

  5. Bake for about 30 minutes or until golden brown.

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

Flour
Forms the dough structure that encloses the filling and holds its shape.
Fat
Rubbed into the flour to tenderise the dough and keep it short.
Baking powder
Releases gas to lift the dough slightly as it bakes.
Tinned beef
Provides the main savoury filling and its richness.
Potato
Adds bulk and a soft, starchy body to the filling.

The step that matters

Adding water to the dough. Water is added gradually because too much makes the dough sticky and tough, while too little leaves it crumbly and hard to roll and seal.

Swap the onion

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, beef, potato, pepper. 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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