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A Mutton Pie a-LA-Perigord

A savory pie of mutton chops, truffles, bacon, and butter encased in short crust pastry, baked and finished with wine.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and white wine are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,083 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓

A Mutton Pie a-LA-Perigord

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 pie

  1. Cut the loin of mutton into chops, leaving the bone that marks the chop.

  2. Cover a dish with pastry and place the chops on it.

  3. Season the chops with coarse sea salt and mixed spices, and place truffles between them.

  4. Cover the chops with slices of bacon and spread butter over the top, about ¼ inch thick.

  5. Complete the pie with a short crust and bake for 2 hours at 350°F (175°C).

Finish and serve

  1. After baking, add a good cullis mixed with a glass of white wine.

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. Butter + white winetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,083 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  2. Truffle + buttertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,209 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  3. Truffle + white winetop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together425 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

  4. Mutton + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,781 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Mutton + truffletop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-nonanal (fatty, waxy).

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

What each ingredient does

Mutton loin
Provides the main meat, whose fat and juices give the chops flavour and tenderness.
Truffles
Add a strong earthy aroma that perfumes the meat and butter during baking.
Slices of bacon
Baste the chops with rendered fat and add savoury, smoky flavour as they bake.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture, keeping the meat from drying out in the oven.
Short crust pastry
Encloses the chops, holding in moisture and forming a crisp, golden shell.
White wine
Adds acidity and depth to the cullis, balancing the rich meat and fat.

The step that matters

Baking the pie. Two hours at 350°F is long enough for the connective tissue in the mutton to soften, but the pastry can brown too fast if the oven runs hot, so check the crust and keep the heat steady.

“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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