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Cottage Pie

A baked meat filling topped with mashed potatoes.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and potato 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 ↓

Cottage Pie

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 filling

  1. Finely chop the onion and fry in a little dripping until tender.

  2. Mince the cold meat and parsley, then mix with the onion.

  3. Add seasoning and catsup, then transfer the mixture to a pie dish.

  4. Add enough stock or water to moisten the mixture.

Top and bake

  1. Top with a thick layer of mashed potatoes, smoothing it with a knife dipped in hot water.

  2. Mark the top with a fork and place a few pieces of dripping on top.

  3. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 30 minutes until heated through.

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. Onion + potatotop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

  2. Parsley + potatotop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,855 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,456 recipes

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

  5. Meat + potatotop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together786 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

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

What each ingredient does

Cold meat
Forms the main body of the filling and carries the savoury flavour.
Potatoes
Form a thick topping that crisps and browns in the oven.
Onion
Adds sweetness and aroma when softened in fat.
Dripping
Adds fat for richness and helps the potato top brown.
Stock or water
Moistens the meat so the filling is not dry after baking.

The step that matters

Moistening the filling. Cold meat dries out easily, so enough stock or water must be added to moisten the mixture. Without it, the filling can turn dry and crumbly rather than tender after baking.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, onion, sauce, potato, butter):

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Capersfits about as well
  3. Thymefits about as well
  4. Parsleythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, onion, sauce, potato, 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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