Why it works: Mushroom and red wine work together. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 720 recipes. Both carry 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol, which smells smoky, clove. The science ↓
Rump Steak Pie
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the steak
Cut the rump steak into pieces half the size of your hand, trimming off skin and sinews.
Beat the steak pieces with a chopper.
Mix the chopped eschalots with the pepper and salt.
Assemble and bake
Strew some of the mixture at the bottom of a baking dish.
Layer the steak pieces and sprinkle more of the mixture in between layers until the dish is full.
Add the mushroom catsup and gravy or red wine.
Cover the dish with pie crust and bake for 2 hours.
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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Mushroom + red winetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together720 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol (smoky, clove).
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Pepper + mushroomtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,580 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Mushroom + meattop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,423 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Pepper + red winetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,075 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
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Red wine + meattop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together126 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Rump steak
- Provides the meat that becomes tender and rich during the long bake.
- Eschalots
- Add savory aromatic flavour that spreads through the meat as it cooks.
- Mushroom catsup
- Adds concentrated savory umami flavour and depth to the filling.
- Gravy or red wine
- Supplies liquid that moistens the filling and carries flavour during baking.
The step that matters
Covering and baking for 2 hours. The pie crust seals in moisture so the filling can simmer gently. Tough rump steak needs this slow, moist heat to break down its connective tissue and become tender.
“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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