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Woodcock Raised Pie, Cold

A cold raised pie made with woodcocks, veal forcemeat, truffles, bacon, and gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Shallot and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,476 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Woodcock Raised Pie, Cold

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 filling

  1. Make good veal forcemeat.

  2. Bone the woodcocks.

  3. Place the bones and trimmings in a saucepan with the shallot, onion, thyme, and cover with stock.

  4. Simmer until the gravy is strong.

  5. Remove the gizzard from the trail and pound the gizzard.

  6. Mix the gizzard with the forcemeat.

  7. Lay the woodcocks' skin down on a board.

  8. Spread a layer of forcemeat on the skin.

  9. Add sliced truffles on top of the forcemeat.

  10. Add another layer of forcemeat over the truffles.

  11. Fold the skin over to restore the birds' shape.

Assemble the pie

  1. Line a pie mold with pastry.

  2. Add a layer of forcemeat at the bottom of the pie mold.

  3. Place two woodcocks in the pie.

  4. Cover the woodcocks with truffles.

  5. Add a thin layer of forcemeat over the truffles.

  6. Add the other two woodcocks to the pie.

  7. Add more truffles on top of the second pair of woodcocks.

  8. Add another layer of forcemeat over the truffles.

  9. Top the pie with thin slices of fat bacon.

  10. Cover the pie.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C).

  2. Wait 30 minutes.

  3. Pour some of the gravy from the bones into the pie.

  4. Close the hole in the cover.

  5. Serve the pie cold on a dish covered with a napkin.

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. Shallot + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,476 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Onion + thymetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,171 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Shallot + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,431 recipes

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

  4. Veal + truffletop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together815 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  5. Shallot + truffletop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together352 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Woodcocks
Form the main meat of the pie, providing the rich, gamey flavour the dish is built around.
Good veal forcemeat
Forms a moist, savoury layer around the birds and truffles, keeping the filling tender.
Truffles
Add an earthy, aromatic flavour that permeates the forcemeat and meat.
Fat bacon
Bastes the pie from above with fat, adding moisture and savoury flavour as it cooks.
Stock
Builds the strong gravy from the bones, which is poured into the pie to add moisture.

The step that matters

Pour the gravy into the pie. The gravy must be strong and reduced from simmering, since it adds moisture and flavour to lean game meat that can otherwise dry out during baking.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, shallot, thyme, truffle):

  1. Leekfits better
  2. Chivefits better
  3. Asparagusfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, shallot, thyme, truffle. 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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