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Potato and Mutton Pie

A pie of mutton, onions, and mashed potatoes topped with breadcrumbs and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 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 and Mutton Pie

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the filling

  1. Turn out the mutton and remove the fat.

  2. Boil the potatoes, then mash them with butter, milk, and seasoning.

  3. Slice the onions and fry them in the fat from the mutton.

  4. Butter a deep pie dish and line it with mashed potatoes.

  5. Add the sliced mutton mixed with onions and season well.

Assemble and bake

  1. Cover with a thick layer of mashed potatoes.

  2. Sprinkle breadcrumbs on top and dot with small pieces of butter.

  3. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 20 minutes.

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. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

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

  4. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

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

  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

Roast mutton
Forms the savory meat filling and carries the flavor of the pie.
Potatoes
Form the mashed base and top layer, giving a soft, moist, structured crust.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture to the mashed potatoes and melts over the top for browning.
Onions
Frying softens and sweetens them, adding depth to the meat filling.
Milk
Loosens the mashed potatoes so they spread smoothly and stay moist.

The step that matters

Cover with a thick layer of mashed potatoes. A thick, evenly spread potato layer seals the filling so it stays moist during baking, and its surface browns as the butter and starch heat.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, potato, butter, sauce, milk, bread, pepper):

  1. Tomatofits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Asparagusfits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, potato, butter, sauce, milk, bread, 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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