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Roman Pie

A savory pie filled with sliced rabbit or fowl, macaroni, cheeses, and onions, baked in a buttery crust.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Parmesan cheese and cheddar cheese match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 592 recipes. Both carry ethyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells fruity, apple. The science ↓

Roman Pie

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the filling

  1. Cut the boiled rabbit or fowl into thin slices.

  2. Boil the macaroni in water until tender, then cut into short lengths.

  3. Finely mince the shallot or onion and mix all ingredients together.

Make the crust

  1. For the crust, rub the butter into the flour until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.

  2. Add a small pinch of salt and enough cold water to form a firm paste.

Assemble and bake

  1. Grease a cake tin and sprinkle it with crushed vermicelli.

  2. Roll out the pastry and line the prepared tin, reserving some for the lid.

  3. Fill the pastry with the mixture and place the lid on top.

  4. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for about 1 hour.

  5. Turn out and serve with a good white or tomato sauce.

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. Parmesan cheese + cheddar cheesetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together592 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  2. Shallot + flourtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,081 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Cheddar cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,436 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Parmesan cheese + buttertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,163 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Shallot + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,898 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

All-purpose flour
Forms the structure of the pastry when combined with water and butter.
Butter
Rubbed into flour to make the pastry short and tender and add richness.
Parmesan cheese
Adds savory, salty flavor and browning to the filling.
Cheddar cheese
Adds richness and savory flavor to the filling.
Macaroni
Adds body and bulk to the filling, giving it a softer texture.

Swap the shallot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rabbit, parmesan cheese, cheddar cheese, pepper, flour, butter):

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Chivefits better
  3. Asparagusfits better
  4. Shallotthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rabbit, parmesan cheese, cheddar cheese, pepper, flour, butter. 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.

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