Name: Modern Potato Pasty
Ingredients: 2 to 3 pounds mutton cutlets, trimmed of fat; flour for dredging; coarse sea salt to taste; black pepper or cayenne to taste; broth or water (enough to make gravy); 1 tablespoon mushroom ketchup or Harvey's sauce (optional); 1 ounce butter; 1 to 2 tablespoons milk or cream per pound of potatoes; potatoes (enough to form a 3-inch thick crust)

Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Modern Potato Pasty

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

2 to 3 pounds mutton cutlets, trimmed of fat
flour for dredging
coarse sea salt to taste
black pepper or cayenne to taste
broth or water (enough to make gravy)
1 tablespoon mushroom ketchup or Harvey's sauce (optional)
1 ounce butter
1 to 2 tablespoons milk or cream per pound of potatoes
potatoes (enough to form a 3-inch thick crust)

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 meat

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Wash the mutton cutlets and trim them of fat.
Dredge both sides of the cutlets with flour, then season with salt and pepper.
Place the cutlets in a tin mold.
Add enough broth or water to create gravy, and stir in mushroom ketchup or Harvey's sauce if using.

Make the potato crust

Boil the potatoes.
Mash the potatoes with butter and milk or cream until smooth.
Spread the mashed potatoes over the cutlets in the mold, leaving the surface a bit rough.

Bake and serve

Cover the mold.
Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour and 15 minutes, depending on size.
Serve the pasty directly from the mold, keeping the cover on until ready to serve.

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.

Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Mushroom + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,525 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
Pepper + potatotop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,305 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Mushroom + potatotop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together968 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Milk + potatotop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,611 recipes

Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

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

What each ingredient does

Mutton cutlets: Provide the meat filling that cooks slowly in its own gravy.
Flour: Dredging the cutlets helps the surface brown and thickens the gravy.
Potatoes: Form the mashed crust that covers and seals the filling as it bakes.
Butter: Adds fat and richness to the mashed potato crust.
Milk or cream: Moistens the mashed potatoes so they spread smoothly and stay tender.

The step that matters

Covering the mold before baking. The lid traps steam so the meat cooks gently in its gravy and stays moist, while the mashed potato crust sets over it. Uncovered, the surface dries and the meat can toughen.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, flour, pepper, mushroom, butter, milk):

Potatothe original
Shallotfits about as well
Capsicumfits about as well
Asparagusfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, flour, pepper, mushroom, butter, milk. 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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Modern Potato Pasty