Why it works: Beef and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,232 recipes. Both carry 2,4-nonadienal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
A Beef-steak 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 paste
Make a paste with ½ pound of butter and 2 pounds of sifted flour.
Divide the paste in half and line the bottom and sides of a well‑buttered deep dish with one half.
Fill the pie
Season the beef steak with pepper and salt, then spread a layer at the bottom of the pie.
Add a layer of sliced potatoes and a few small bits of butter rolled in flour.
Repeat layers of meat and potatoes until the dish is full.
If using clams or oysters, moisten the ingredients with their liquor; otherwise, add ½ pint of cold water.
Bake and serve
Cover the pie with the other half of the paste, notching the edges and decorating with reserved paste.
Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes, longer if the pie is larger.
Serve hot.
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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Beef + mushroomtop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,232 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
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Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,525 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
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Beef + potatotop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,052 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
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Pepper + potatotop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Potato + mushroomtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together968 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
- Butter
- Enriches the paste and adds richness, tenderness and flavor to the crust.
- Sifted flour
- Forms the paste that structures the crust and holds the filling together.
- Beef steak
- Forms the savory meat filling that cooks down as the pie bakes.
- Sliced potatoes
- Layers with the meat to add starch, body and absorbed savory juices to the filling.
The step that matters
Adding the liquid. The filling needs enough moisture to cook the meat and potatoes through under the crust. Too little liquid can leave the filling dry, while the crust needs to seal well over the dish.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, beef, pepper, mushroom):
- Shallotfits about as well
- Chivefits about as well
- Potatothe original
- Capsicumfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, beef, pepper, mushroom. 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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