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Strasbourg Pie

A savory pie made with pork forcemeat, truffles, goose livers, bacon fat, and a raised crust.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Pork and liver are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,606 recipes. Both carry 1-nonanal, which smells fatty, waxy. The science ↓

Strasbourg Pie

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderately hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderately hot oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Make a rich forcemeat with fat and lean pork, truffles, and spices.

  2. Prepare a raised crust and line it with thin slices of bacon fat.

Fill the pie

  1. Spread a layer of forcemeat on the bacon fat.

  2. Place two seasoned fat goose livers in the center.

  3. Add more truffles and forcemeat, then finish with sliced bacon fat and a bruised laurel leaf.

  4. Cover with a lid of crust and seal the edges well.

Bake

  1. Bake for 2 hours in a moderate oven 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. Pork + livertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,606 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-nonanal (fatty, waxy).

  2. Pork + truffletop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,380 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-ethylphenol (must).

  3. Truffle + livertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together395 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-nonanal (fatty, waxy).

  4. Liver + laureltop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together184 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

  5. Truffle + laureltop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together260 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Fat and lean pork
Forms the bulk of the forcemeat, giving a moist, sliceable texture as it cooks.
Goose livers
Add richness and a soft, buttery texture to the center of the pie.
Bacon fat
Lines and covers the pie, basting the meat and adding savoury fat flavour.
Truffles
Contribute a strong, earthy aroma that perfumes the forcemeat.
Raised crust
Encloses the filling and holds its shape during baking.

The step that matters

Seal the edges well. If the lid is not sealed firmly, juices and aroma escape during baking and the filling can dry out or leak. A tight seal keeps the moisture and fat inside the crust.

“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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