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Partridges, Pie Of, Hunter's

A savory pie of halved partridges with veal, bacon, mushrooms, parsley, onion sauce, and savory jelly, baked in crust.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Partridges, Pie Of, Hunter's

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare the partridges

  1. Pluck, draw, and singe the partridges, then cut them in half.

  2. Sprinkle the halves with salt, cayenne, and mace.

  3. Fry the halves in hot butter until browned.

Assemble the pie

  1. Line a shallow pie dish with pie crust.

  2. Place veal and bacon slices at the bottom of the dish.

  3. Add mushrooms, parsley, salt, and cayenne to the dish.

  4. Pour onion sauce over the veal.

  5. Pack the partridge halves breast side up into the dish.

  6. Add more mushrooms, parsley, and onion sauce on top.

Bake and serve

  1. Cover the pie with crust.

  2. Decorate the crust.

  3. Brush the crust with beaten egg.

  4. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 1.5 hours.

  5. Before serving, pour melted savory jelly into the pie.

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

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

  2. Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

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

  3. Parsley + oniontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

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

  4. Mushroom + oniontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,626 recipes

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

  5. Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

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 cooks through and becomes tender under the crust.
Butter
Browns the partridge halves and adds richness to the meat before baking.
Veal
Adds savory meat flavor and moisture to the base layer of the pie.
Bacon
Adds fat and savory flavor that bastes the meat as it bakes.
Savory jelly
Adds moisture and savory flavor once melted into the finished pie.
Pie crust
Encloses the filling and forms the structure of the pie.

The step that matters

Fry the halves in hot butter until browned. Browning in hot fat develops deep flavor through the Maillard reaction, and sealing the surface helps the partridge keep its juices during baking.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, butter, veal, mushroom, parsley, onion, sauce):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Garlicfits better
  3. Capersfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, butter, veal, mushroom, parsley, onion, sauce. 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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