Name: Potato Pie
Ingredients: 2 lb potatoes; 1 onion; 1 stick of celery; 1 oz butter; 1 oz sago or tapioca; seasoning to taste; short-crust pastry to cover; water or milk

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 ↓

Potato Pie

Oven, in the book's wordsA good oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a good oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

Slice the potatoes and celery.
In a pan, fry the onion in the butter until soft.

Assemble

In a pie dish, layer the sliced potatoes and celery.
Sprinkle in the sago or tapioca and season to taste.
Pour in enough water or milk to fill the dish.
Cover with short-crust pastry.

Bake

Bake at 400°F (200°C) for about 1 hour, or until golden brown.

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.

Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,023 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Potato + celerytop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,047 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,518 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Potato + milktop 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

Potatoes: Form the bulk of the filling and become soft and tender as they cook.
Sago or tapioca: Starch that thickens the cooking liquid as it heats, helping the filling set.
Butter: Adds fat and richness, and carries the flavour of the softened onion.
Onion: Adds savoury flavour as it softens and sweetens in the butter.