Why it works: Currant and sherry work together. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 393 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓
Chaud-froid De Gibier
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the mold
Boil the brown chaud-froid sauce, glaze, sherry, and sugar until reduced by three-quarters.
Line a border mold with a little aspic jelly and let it set.
Line the mold with the chaud-froid sauce.
Make the filling
Finely mince the cold game.
Mix the minced game with ½ pint of aspic jelly, port, game gravy, currant jelly, and seasoning.
Fill the mold with this mixture.
Turn it out when set.
Garnish and serve
Pile the macedoine in the center.
Sprinkle the macedoine with tarragon, chili vinegar, and salad oil.
Sprinkle the chopped truffles over the top.
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.
-
Currant + sherrytop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together393 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
-
Sauce + sugartop 13% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,147 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Truffle + sherrytop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together297 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
-
Sherry + sugartop 22% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,141 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Truffle + saucetop 22% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,490 recipes
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cold game
- Provides the main meaty body of the filling once minced.
- Aspic jelly
- Gelatin sets the mixture so it holds its shape when turned out.
- Brown chaud-froid sauce
- Coats the mold with a smooth, glossy layer that shows the finished surface.
- Port
- Adds rich, fruity depth and a touch of sweetness to the filling.
- Currant jelly
- Adds sweetness and a glossy finish to the sauce and filling.
- Truffles
- Contribute a strong earthy aroma as a final garnish.
The step that matters
Reducing the chaud-froid sauce. Boiling until reduced by three-quarters concentrates the sauce and thickens it, so it clings to the mold instead of running off. Thin sauce gives a patchy, uneven coating.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (truffle, sauce, sherry, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Applefits better
- Pineapplefits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against truffle, sauce, sherry, sugar. 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.
You might also like
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.
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 recipes
Mutton Broth292 recipes
Yorkshire Pudding264 recipes