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Meat Pies

A savory pie made with cornmeal or hominy and meat, baked with tomato, onion, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Rice and tomato match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,065 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

Meat Pies

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Make the filling

  1. Melt the fat in a pan and add the sliced onion.

  2. If using raw meat, add it now and stir until it turns brown.

  3. If using cooked meat, add it after the onion is browned and heat through.

  4. Add the tomato, salt, and pepper, and mix well.

Assemble and bake

  1. Grease a baking dish and layer in the cereal.

  2. Add the meat mixture on top, then cover with more cereal dotted with fat.

  3. Bake for 30 minutes at 350°F (175°C).

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. Rice + tomatotop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,065 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  2. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

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

  3. Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

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

  4. Rice + oniontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,433 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Cooked cornmeal, rice, or hominy
Forms the bulk and structure of the pie layers, soaking up moisture from the filling.
Meat
Provides savory flavor and substance; browning raw meat builds richer taste.
Tomato
Adds moisture and acidity that flavor the filling and keep it from drying out.
Onion
Adds aroma and sweetness as it softens and browns in the fat.
Fat
Carries flavor, helps browning, and adds richness to the filling and top layer.

The step that matters

Adding raw versus cooked meat. Raw meat must be stirred until it browns so it cooks through and develops flavor, while cooked meat only needs heating through. Adding cooked meat too early can make it tough and dry.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, tomato, pepper, meat):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Okrafits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rice, tomato, pepper, meat. 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.

More meat pies recipes

Mini 4Raised Crust for 4Suet Crust for 4 See all 7 →

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