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Beef and Potato Pie

A savory pie with beef, potatoes, onions, and a buttery crust.

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 ↓

Beef and Potato Pie

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare the filling

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. In a skillet, melt butter and sauté onion until translucent.

  3. Add beef and cook until browned.

  4. Stir in flour, then add beef broth, salt, and pepper.

  5. Simmer until thickened, about 10 minutes.

Assemble and bake

  1. Layer potatoes in a pie dish, pour beef mixture over them, and cover with pie crust.

  2. Bake for 45 minutes or until crust is golden brown.

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. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

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

  3. Beef + potatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,052 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

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

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

  5. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Beef
Provides the main savory meat body and flavor once browned.
Potatoes
Form the starchy base layer that adds body and soaks up the filling.
Flour
Thickens the broth into a gravy that holds the filling together.
Beef broth
Supplies liquid and savory flavor that cooks the filling and forms the gravy.
Onion
Adds sweetness and aroma as it softens in the butter.
Pie crust
Covers the filling and browns in the oven for a golden top.

The step that matters

Simmer until thickened. Flour must cook in the hot liquid to thicken the gravy. If the mixture is too thin, it will run and make the filling soupy once baked.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, potato, flour, pepper, butter):

  1. Chivefits about as well
  2. Onionthe original
  3. Leekfits about as well
  4. Carrotfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, potato, flour, pepper, butter. 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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