Why it works: Butter and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12,525 recipes. Both carry trans-2-decenal, which smells waxy, orange. The science ↓
Beefsteak Pudding or Pot-pie
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the beef
Pound the beefsteak until almost a pulp.
Shape the beef into pieces 2 by 5 inches.
Season the beef with salt and pepper.
Dredge the beef with flour.
Make the crust
Mix baking powder with flour.
Crumb together with lard and butter.
Add enough cold water to form a soft dough.
Roll out the under-crust to about 1 inch thick.
Roll out the top crust to nearly 1 inch thick.
Assemble and boil
Butter a 1-quart tin mold or china bowl.
Line the mold with pastry, letting the edges hang over.
Place the beef in the mold with the parboiled onions, mushroom catsup, and water.
Wet the edges of the pastry.
Cover with another layer of pastry.
Press the edges together.
Tie the mold in a clean cloth.
Boil a pot of water.
Place the mold in the pot, top side up.
Boil for 4 hours.
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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Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,525 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
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Onion + mushroomtop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,626 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Pepper + mushroomtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,580 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Beefsteak
- Provides the meat that becomes tender and rich during long, slow boiling.
- Flour
- Dredging the beef helps thicken the cooking liquid and gives the stew body.
- Lard and butter
- Fat rubbed into the flour makes the crust tender and flaky.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the dough, helping the crust rise and turn light.
- Parboiled onions
- Soften during boiling and add sweetness and savour to the filling.
The step that matters
Pressing the edges together. A tight seal keeps water out of the filling and steam and juices in, so the stew cooks in its own liquid and the crust stays intact during the long boil.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, butter, flour, mushroom):
- Shallotfits better
- Spinachfits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, butter, flour, 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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