Skip to main content
Main

Partridge Pie

A pie filled with partridges, ham, veal cutlet, stock, and puff pastry.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

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 ↓

Partridge Pie

Oven, in the book's wordsA brisk oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a brisk oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

  2. Line a pie dish with the veal cutlet.

  3. Place a slice of ham on top of the veal cutlet.

  4. Season the inside of the partridges with salt, pepper, and minced parsley.

  5. Cut off the legs of the partridges at the first joint.

Assemble and bake

  1. Place the partridges in the pie dish and pour in the stock.

  2. Cover with puff pastry and bake for about 30 minutes until golden brown.

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. Veal + hamtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,264 recipes

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

  3. Parsley + vealtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,766 recipes

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

  4. Pepper + vealtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,049 recipes

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

  5. Pepper + hamtop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,058 recipes

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

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 and flavorful during the slow baking.
Veal cutlet
Lines the dish and adds meaty richness and body to the filling.
Puff pastry
Forms a flaky crust that browns in the hot oven.
Stock
Adds moisture and savory flavor to the filling as it bakes.
Ham
Adds salty, savory flavor that complements the meats.

The step that matters

Covering and baking the pie. Pastry needs a hot oven to puff and brown properly, and the pie must bake long enough for the partridge and veal to cook through. Pulling it too early leaves the meat underdone and the pastry pale.

Swap the parsley

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

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

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

Veal PattiesVeal Patties50 recipesBeef, Mutton, or Veal BrothBeef, Mutton, or Veal Broth6 recipesTomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipesBrown BreadBrown Bread461 recipes