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Herb Pie

A savory pie made with lettuce, spinach, beets, parsley, onion, butter, water, eggs, and crust.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Lettuce and spinach match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 427 recipes. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓

Herb Pie

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

  2. Chop the lettuce, spinach, beets, parsley, and onion.

  3. Season the mixture with salt and pepper.

  4. In a dish, combine the chopped herbs with butter and water.

  5. Place a cup in the center of the dish and cover with pie crust.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake until the crust is golden.

  2. Beat the eggs, remove the cup, and pour the eggs into the pie.

  3. Cover with crust again and bake for an additional 1-2 minutes before serving.

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. Lettuce + spinachtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together427 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  2. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  3. Lettuce + parsleytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,483 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  4. Spinach + parsleytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,025 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  5. Spinach + peppertop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,400 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Set when baked, binding the herb filling into a firm, sliceable custard.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a tender, flavorful filling.
Lettuce
Contributes leafy bulk and moisture to the filling.
Spinach
Adds leafy bulk and moisture, with a mild, earthy flavor.
Beets
Adds earthy sweetness and color to the filling.
Onion
Adds savory aroma and depth to the herb filling.

The step that matters

Pouring the beaten eggs into the pie. Eggs set through gentle heat, so the filling needs enough baking to firm up without overcooking. Pouring them in after the crust has partly baked keeps the crust from soaking and helps the custard set evenly.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lettuce, spinach, parsley, butter, egg, pepper):

  1. Chivefits better
  2. Shallotfits better
  3. Leekfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lettuce, spinach, parsley, butter, egg, 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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