Skip to main content
Main

Game Pie

A savory pie filled with game birds, forcemeat, veal, bacon, and a stock reduction.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Thyme and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Game Pie

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Bone the partridges, ducks, or other game and stuff them with forcemeat.

  2. Prepare the crust and place a few slices of veal and a thick layer of forcemeat on the bottom.

Assemble and bake

  1. Lay in the game and cover with thin slices of bacon, then put on the upper crust.

  2. Bake at 400°F (200°C) for four hours.

Make the stock and finish

  1. Stew the giblets with ham, bones, shallots, mace, thyme, and parsley in 2 quarts of stock until reduced to 1 pint.

  2. Strain and pour the stock into the pie when cold.

  3. Let it stand for 24 hours before cutting.

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. Thyme + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Shallot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,737 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Truffle + vealtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together815 recipes

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

  5. Truffle + hamtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together516 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

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

What each ingredient does

Forcemeat
Forms a rich, moist layer that cushions the game and keeps the filling tender.
Truffle
Adds a concentrated earthy aroma that perfumes the meat and forcemeat.
Bacon
Lays fat over the game, basting it as it cooks and keeping it moist.
Veal
Adds gelatin-rich meat that helps the filling set firm when chilled.
Giblets
Simmered in stock to build a deeply flavoured liquid for the pie.

The step that matters

Pouring in the stock when cold. The stock must be fully reduced and cooled so its gelatin sets into a jelly once the pie chills. Pouring it in warm would keep it runny and prevent a firm set when cut.

Swap the mace

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

  1. Marjoramfits better
  2. Capersfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Macethe original

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

More game pie recipes

English 13Christmas 6Forcemeat 4Raised 4Venison and Hare 4French 3 See all 39 →

You might also like

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