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Forcemeat for Game Pie

A seasoned forcemeat mixture of veal, liver, mushrooms, bacon, and spices for use in game pies.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 16 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and thyme 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 ↓

Forcemeat for Game Pie

Ingredients

Directions

Make the bread mixture

  1. Melt the butter in a saucepan.

  2. Add parsley, thyme, salt, lemon peel, nutmeg, cayenne, and mace to the saucepan.

  3. Add the veal and stew gently for 12 to 15 minutes, then remove the veal.

  4. Add bread crumbs to the saucepan and let them absorb the gravy, stirring until dry.

  5. Beat the yolk of the egg and add it to the hot bread crumbs.

  6. Set the mixture aside to cool.

Prepare the meats and vegetables

  1. Boil or stew the livers with the veal.

  2. Chop and stew the mushrooms with the veal.

  3. Mince the veal finely.

  4. Pound together the veal, livers, and mushrooms.

Combine and finish

  1. Add the cooled bread mixture and beat well.

  2. Add the butter and beat it in.

  3. Rasp the bacon and add it.

  4. Beat the yolks of the eggs and add to the mixture.

  5. Set the forcemeat aside to cool.

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

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Thyme + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,973 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Parsley + nutmegtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,062 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  5. Thyme + nutmegtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,907 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

What each ingredient does

Veal
Provides the main meaty body and firm texture of the forcemeat.
Bread crumbs
Absorb the gravy and help bind the forcemeat into a stable mass.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and help it set firm when cooked.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture, keeping the forcemeat tender.
Bacon
Adds savoury fat and flavour that enriches the mixture.
Livers
Add depth of flavour and a smooth, rich texture when pounded.

The step that matters

Drying the bread crumbs in the gravy. Stirring until the crumbs are dry lets them absorb the liquid without making the forcemeat soggy. Adding wet crumbs or the egg to a loose mixture can cause it to split or become too soft to bind properly.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, butter, parsley, thyme, lemon, nutmeg, bread):

  1. Marjoramfits better
  2. Sagefits better
  3. Winter savoryfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, butter, parsley, thyme, lemon, nutmeg, bread. 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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