Name: Galantines Op Paktbjdges and Sliced in Bellevue
Ingredients: 2 or 3 fresh partridges, plucked and singed; Salt and pepper, to taste; Forcemeat (see recipe No. 65); ½ as much liver baking forcemeat (see recipe No. 81); Strips of blanched fat pork, ¼ inch square; Truffles, chopped; Red beef tongue, chopped

Why it works: Pork and beef match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,690 recipes. Both carry 12-methyltridecanal, which smells tallowy, beefy. The science ↓

Galantines Op Paktbjdges and Sliced in Bellevue

Ingredients

2 or 3 fresh partridges, plucked and singed
Salt and pepper, to taste
Forcemeat (see recipe No. 65)
½ as much liver baking forcemeat (see recipe No. 81)
Strips of blanched fat pork, ¼ inch square
Truffles, chopped
Red beef tongue, chopped

Directions

Prepare the birds

Bone the partridges through the back.
Remove the largest sinews from the legs and fillets.
Season the meat.

Make the forcemeat

Prepare a fine forcemeat by pounding the meat.
Mix the forcemeat with the chopped parings of the birds.
Add half as much liver baking forcemeat to the mixture.
Pound the mixture.
Strain the mixture.
Season the mixture again.
Mix the forcemeat with strips of blanched fat pork, truffles, and red beef tongue.

Stuff, wrap and cook

Fill the partridges with the forcemeat.
Reconstruct their shape.
Sew them up.
Wrap the partridges in small cloths.
Tie them at the ends and in the center.
Cook the galantines slowly in good unskimmed stock for 1 hour and 15 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.

Pork + beeftop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,690 recipes

Shared aroma: 12-methyltridecanal (tallowy, beefy).
Liver + porktop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,606 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-nonanal (fatty, waxy).
Pepper + beeftop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,971 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Pork + truffletop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,380 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-ethylphenol (must).
Truffle + beeftop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together412 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-ethylphenol (must).

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

What each ingredient does

Partridges: Form the main body and provide the lean meat that the galantine is built around.
Fat pork: Adds moisture and richness to the lean forcemeat as it cooks.
Truffles: Add a strong earthy aroma and flavour to the forcemeat.
Red beef tongue: Adds meaty texture and body to the forcemeat filling.
Liver baking forcemeat: Adds richness and a softer, more tender texture to the filling.

The step that matters

Cook the galantines slowly in unskimmed stock. Slow simmering keeps the forcemeat gently set and moist inside the birds; boiling too hard can toughen the meat and break the wrapped shape.

“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.

Roast Beef211 recipes

Beef Loaf175 recipes

Pork Cake107 recipes

Corned Beef87 recipes

Like knowing why a recipe works?

The free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.

Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.

Galantines Op Paktbjdges and Sliced in Bellevue