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Beefsteak-pie

A savory pie filled with browned beef, onion, and a seasoned broth, topped with a pie crust.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Beef and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,092 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Beefsteak-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. 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 400°F (200°C).

  2. In a large skillet, brown the beef cubes and onion over medium heat.

  3. Sprinkle flour over the meat and stir to coat.

  4. Add beef broth, salt, pepper, and Worcestershire sauce; simmer for 30 minutes.

Assemble and bake

  1. Pour the beef mixture into a pie dish and cover with the pie crust.

  2. Cut slits in the crust to allow steam to escape.

  3. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until the 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. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  4. Onion + flourtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together32,460 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Flour + saucetop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,078 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef steak
Provides the main meaty body and texture of the filling after simmering.
Flour
Thickens the broth into a gravy that coats the meat and holds the filling together.
Beef broth
Adds liquid and savory depth, forming the sauce that cooks the beef.
Onion
Adds sweetness and aroma as it browns with the beef.
Pie crust
Encloses the filling and browns in the oven for a golden top.

The step that matters

Cut slits in the crust. Steam builds up inside the sealed pie as the filling heats. Without vents, pressure can lift or split the crust and push filling out, so the slits let steam escape.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Shallotfits better
  3. Horseradishfits better
  4. Onionthe original

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