Skip to main content
Main

Pasty

A baked pastry filled with mashed potatoes and various meats, fish, or vegetables.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 24 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Chicken and pork match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,417 recipes. Both carry 2-furfurylthiol, which smells coffee, roasted. The science ↓

Pasty

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 crust

  1. Boil and mash the potatoes smoothly, adding 1 ounce of butter and 1-2 tablespoons of milk or cream for each pound.

  2. Form a crust with the mashed potatoes about 3 inches thick in a mold.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake the pasty in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 45-75 minutes, depending on size and contents.

  2. Pin a folded napkin around the mold before serving.

  3. Prepare a hot dish to receive the cover, which should not be lifted until the pasty is on the table.

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. Chicken + porktop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,417 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

  2. Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Potato + porktop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,668 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

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

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

  5. Potato + chickentop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,756 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-decenal (green, must).

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

What each ingredient does

Good potatoes
Form the mashed crust that holds the filling and gives it body.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, softening the mashed potato for a smoother crust.
Milk or cream
Adds moisture so the mashed potato spreads and stays smooth.

The step that matters

Bake the pasty in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 45-75 minutes, depending on size and contents.. Baking time depends on size and filling, so the cook must judge doneness rather than the clock alone. Undercooked fillings can stay raw in the centre, while overbaking dries the mashed potato crust.

Swap the sage

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

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Celeryfits better
  4. Sagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, butter, milk, chicken, oyster, pork, onion. 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.

You might also like

Chicken BrothChicken Broth257 recipesPotato CroquettesPotato Croquettes255 recipesChicken SoupChicken Soup156 recipesSalmon SaladSalmon Salad155 recipes