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Chicken and Ham Pie

A savory pie with chicken, veal, corned ham, mushrooms, egg yolks, and gravy, topped with pastry.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Chicken and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,172 recipes. Both carry 1-butyl acetate, which smells fruity, banana. The science ↓

Chicken and Ham Pie

Oven, in the book's wordsA steady oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare

  1. Joint the chicken.

  2. Cut the veal and ham into dice.

  3. Slice the mushrooms.

  4. Chop the yolks of the hard-boiled eggs.

Assemble and bake

  1. In a large pudding dish, layer the chicken, veal, ham, mushrooms, and egg yolks, seasoning each layer with pepper and salt.

  2. Pour the gravy over the layers.

  3. Cover with a thick crust of pastry.

  4. Decorate the edges.

  5. Make a slit in the middle of the crust.

  6. Bake in a steady oven at 350°F (175°C) until almost done.

  7. Brush the top with beaten egg.

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. Chicken + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,172 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-butyl acetate (fruity, banana).

  2. Mushroom + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,580 recipes

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

  3. Chicken + vealtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,243 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-butanedione (buttery, creamy).

  4. Veal + mushroomtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,446 recipes

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

  5. Chicken + hamtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,497 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

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

What each ingredient does

Chicken
Forms the main body of the pie and provides the savory meat base.
Lean veal
Adds tender meat that becomes softer and more delicate during slow baking.
Corned ham
Contributes salty, savory flavor that seasons the meat layers.
Hard-boiled egg yolks
Add richness and a creamy texture that binds the filling.
Gravy or stock
Provides moisture that keeps the filling juicy during baking.
Pastry
Encloses the filling and browns to a golden finish when brushed with egg.

The step that matters

Make a slit in the middle of the crust. The slit lets steam escape from the filling as it heats. Without it, pressure can build under the pastry and lift or soften the crust.

“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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