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Forcemeat for Game

A forcemeat made from game livers, suet, bacon, spices, cream, and egg yolks.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,451 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓

Forcemeat for Game

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Pound the livers of the game with half their weight of beef suet and good fat bacon.

  2. Season the mixture with salt, pepper, and powdered cloves.

  3. If needed, add a little meat from the game.

Bind and finish

  1. Moisten the mixture with cream and bind it with the yolks of two eggs.

  2. If a stiff consistency is desired, stew over gentle heat, stirring constantly until the proper consistency is achieved, about 10 to 12 minutes.

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. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  2. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Liver + beeftop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together431 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Beef + clovetop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Liver + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,375 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Livers of game
Provide the main body and rich flavor of the forcemeat.
Beef suet
Adds fat that keeps the forcemeat moist and tender once cooked.
Good fat bacon
Contributes fat and savory flavor that carries through the mixture.
Cream
Moistens the mixture, adding softness and a smoother texture.
Egg yolks
Bind the mixture so it holds together and sets when heated.

The step that matters

Stewing to the stiff consistency. Heating over gentle heat while stirring constantly keeps the egg yolks from scrambling or curdling. Stopping at the right point gives a firm, cohesive texture rather than a loose or grainy one.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (liver, beef, pepper, cream, egg):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against liver, beef, pepper, cream, egg. 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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