Skip to main content
Main

Partridge Pie

A savory pie with partridges, ham, veal, herbs, mushrooms, and broth, topped with pie crust.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Parsley and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Partridge Pie

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Rub the partridge halves with pepper, salt, and flour.

  3. Add parsley, thyme, and mushrooms if using.

Assemble and bake

  1. Layer the ham and veal slices in the bottom of a pie dish.

  2. Place the partridge halves on top and pour broth or gravy over them.

  3. If needed, add water and butter to ensure enough liquid.

  4. Cover with pie crust and bake for one hour.

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. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Pepper + thymetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,585 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Thyme + mushroomtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,557 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  5. Mushroom + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

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

What each ingredient does

Partridges
Provide the main meat, which becomes tender during the long, moist baking.
All-purpose flour
Coats the partridge halves and thickens the cooking liquid into a light gravy.
Ham
Adds salty, savoury flavour that seasons the meat and liquid below the partridge.
Veal
Adds body and savoury richness to the filling as it cooks in the pie.
Broth or gravy
Supplies the cooking liquid that keeps the filling moist and builds its flavour.

The step that matters

Adding enough liquid before covering. The pie bakes for an hour under a crust, so the filling needs enough broth, gravy, or water to keep the meat moist and avoid drying out while the flour thickens the sauce.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, flour, thyme, mushroom, ham, veal, butter):

  1. Marjoramfits about as well
  2. Parsleythe original
  3. Sagefits about as well
  4. Tarragonfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, flour, thyme, mushroom, ham, veal, 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.

You might also like

Mushroom SoupMushroom Soup60 recipesVeal PattiesVeal Patties50 recipesBeef, Mutton, or Veal BrothBeef, Mutton, or Veal Broth6 recipesTomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipes