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Beef Pie

A layered beef pie topped with a mashed potato crust, baked until golden.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Tomato and potato match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,798 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Beef 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.

Assemble the filling

  1. Layer thin slices of beef in a pie dish.

  2. Sprinkle with flour, pepper, and salt.

  3. Add chopped tomato or onion.

  4. Repeat layers until the dish is filled.

  5. Pour in beef gravy or beef dripping and enough water to create gravy.

Top and bake

  1. Mix mashed potatoes with milk, butter, and salt.

  2. Spread the potato mixture over the beef as a crust, about 1 inch thick.

  3. Brush the top with beaten egg.

  4. Bake at 400°F (200°C) for about 25 minutes.

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. Tomato + potatotop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,798 recipes

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

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  3. Pepper + tomatotop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

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

  4. Beef + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,448 recipes

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

  5. Beef + potatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,052 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

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

What each ingredient does

Cold roast beef or steak
Forms the main meaty filling that the gravy and crust surround.
Flour
Thickens the juices into a gravy that holds the filling together.
Potatoes
Form a soft, sliceable crust that holds moisture beneath the top.
Butter
Adds fat and richness to the mashed potato topping.
Milk or cream
Makes the mashed potato topping smooth and moist.
Egg
Brushed on top, it promotes browning and a glossy finish.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, flour, pepper, potato, milk, butter, egg):

  1. Chivefits better
  2. Asparagusfits better
  3. Capsicumfits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, flour, pepper, potato, milk, butter, 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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