Why it works: Egg and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 33% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 50,580 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Grouse Pie.
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the filling
Cut the grouse into neat joints and remove the lower parts of the back.
Slice the steak thinly.
Cut the bacon into narrow strips.
Slice the eggs.
Add finely chopped parsley, shallot, and mushrooms to the meat.
Layer and bake
Line the bottom of a pie dish with slices of steak.
Layer with grouse, bacon, and egg, seasoning each layer with salt and pepper.
Repeat the layering until all ingredients are used.
Add stock to fill the dish three-quarters full.
Cover the pie with pastry.
Bake for 4 hours in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C).
Reduce the temperature to 300°F (150°C) and bake for an additional 10 hours.
Brush the pie with egg yolk when it is about three-quarters baked.
Finish and serve
Simmer the necks and trimmings of the grouse in the remaining stock.
Strain, season, and pour into the pie before serving.
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.
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Egg + peppertop 33% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together50,580 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Egg and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 50,580 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Grouse
- Forms the main meat of the pie, giving its flavour and substance.
- Rump steak
- Adds meaty body and richness to the layered filling.
- Streaky bacon
- Contributes fat and savoury flavour that moistens the surrounding meat.
- Hard-boiled eggs
- Add body and a creamy texture to the layers.
- Stock
- Provides moisture and savoury depth as the filling cooks.
The step that matters
Long, low baking after the hot start. Meat cooked for many hours at a low temperature becomes tender as collagen slowly breaks down into gelatin. Keeping the oven steady, and not letting the stock boil away, helps the filling stay moist and tender.
“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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