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Godiveau, or Forcemeat for Pies, or Puffs

A forcemeat mixture of veal, suet, herbs, anchovy, mushrooms, and oysters for pies or puffs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 16 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and marjoram match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,225 recipes. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓

Godiveau, or Forcemeat for Pies, or Puffs

Ingredients

Directions

Make the forcemeat

  1. In a mortar, combine the veal, suet, parsley, thyme, shallots, basil, marjoram, anchovy, and mushrooms.

  2. Add the egg yolks, bread crumbs, pepper, salt, cream, broth, and oysters. Mix everything together until well combined.

Shape and cook

  1. Form the mixture into balls and cook them by boiling or frying before adding to your dish.

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 + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  2. Basil + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together688 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  3. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Parsley + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,979 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Thyme + basiltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,768 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

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

What each ingredient does

Veal
Provides the main lean meat body that forms the bulk of the forcemeat.
Suet
Adds fat that keeps the forcemeat moist and tender during cooking.
Egg yolks
Bind the mixture so it holds together when shaped and cooked.
Bread crumbs
Absorb liquid and help give the forcemeat a soft, binding texture.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness, keeping the mixture soft and tender.
Mushrooms
Add moisture and savory flavor to the forcemeat.

The step that matters

Form the mixture into balls and cook them before adding to your dish. The raw mixture is soft and bound only by yolks and crumbs, so it can fall apart if not shaped firmly. Cooking it by boiling or frying sets the egg proteins so the balls hold their shape in the finished dish.

Swap the basil

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, parsley, thyme, shallot, marjoram, anchovy, mushroom):

  1. Winter savoryfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Capersfits better
  4. Basilthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, parsley, thyme, shallot, marjoram, anchovy, mushroom. 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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