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 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.
Prepare
Cut the steak into strips, 2 inches long and 1 inch wide.
Stew the steak with the bone in just enough water to cover until partly cooked.
Slice the cold boiled potatoes.
Assemble
Line a baking dish with pie crust.
Layer the meat with salt, pepper, and thinly sliced onion, then add a layer of sliced potatoes with bits of butter.
Repeat layers of steak and potatoes until the dish is full.
Thicken the gravy or broth with brown flour and pour it over the layers.
Cover with a top crust, making a slit in the middle, and brush with beaten egg.
Bake
Bake at 400°F (200°C) until the crust is golden brown.
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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Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,023 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,456 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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
- Rump or flank steak
- Provides the meat, which partly cooks in stewing before baking.
- Brown flour
- Thickens the gravy or broth so it binds the layers rather than running off.
- Egg
- Brushed on the top crust, it helps the crust brown and turn golden.
- 6 cold boiled potatoes
- Add body and starch that soak up the gravy between the meat layers.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat that carries flavour through the potato layers.
The step that matters
Thicken the gravy or broth with brown flour and pour it over the layers. Flour must be fully mixed into the liquid so it thickens evenly; lumps or thin liquid leave the pie watery or pasty when baked and cut.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, pepper, butter, flour, egg):
- Chivefits better
- Asparagusfits better
- Spinachfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against potato, pepper, butter, flour, egg. 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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