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Venison Pasty

A slow‑cooked venison and mutton dish simmered in gravy, then baked.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and beef are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,971 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Venison Pasty

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Remove the bones from the venison and season the meat.

  2. Place the meat in a stone jar in large pieces.

  3. Pour plain drawn-beef gravy over the meat and lay the bones on top.

Simmer and rest

  1. Set the jar in a water bath and simmer for 3-4 hours.

  2. Leave the jar in a cool place overnight.

Finish and bake

  1. Remove the fat cake and arrange the meat on a dish.

  2. Add more seasoning if necessary, then pour some gravy over the meat.

  3. Bake in a slow oven at 300°F (150°C) for 3-4 hours.

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 + beeftop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Mutton + beeftop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,373 recipes

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

  3. Venison + port winetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together239 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  4. Venison + muttontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together279 recipes

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

  5. Vinegar + port winetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together598 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

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

What each ingredient does

Venison
Forms the main meat that becomes tender during long, gentle cooking.
Mutton loin
Its fat adds richness and helps keep the meat moist during slow cooking.
Plain drawn-beef gravy
Adds moisture and savoury depth as the meat cooks slowly.

The step that matters

Slow cooking in the water bath and oven. Cooking gently at low heat for hours breaks down connective tissue so the meat becomes tender. Higher heat would toughen the meat and dry it out, so the temperature should stay low and 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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