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Potato Pie

A baked dish of sliced potatoes, celery, and onion topped with short crust pastry.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 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 ↓

Potato 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.

Prepare

  1. Slice the potatoes and celery.

  2. Fry the onion in the butter until soft.

Assemble

  1. In a pie dish, layer the sliced potatoes, celery, and fried onion.

  2. Sprinkle in the sago or tapioca and season to taste.

  3. Fill the dish with water or milk.

  4. Cover with short crust pastry.

Bake

  1. Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven for about 1 hour or until golden.

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. Potato + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Potato + milktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

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

What each ingredient does

Potatoes
Form the bulk of the filling and turn soft and starchy as they cook.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, and carries the flavour when frying the onion.
Onion
Frying softens it and brings sweetness and savoury aroma to the filling.
Sago or tapioca
Starch that thickens the cooking liquid as it heats, helping the filling set.
Short crust pastry
Forms a crisp, golden lid that seals in the filling and browns in the oven.

The step that matters

Bake until the filling is fully cooked and the pastry is golden. Potato starch and sago or tapioca need enough heat and time to swell and soften fully. Pulling the pie early can leave the filling firm or watery, while the pastry should brown evenly.

Swap the celery

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, onion, butter, milk):

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Parsleyfits about as well
  4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, onion, butter, milk. 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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Sweet 114Irish 16Crust 10Lemon 7Southern Sweet 5 See all 98 →

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