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Venison Pasty

A savory venison dish baked slowly with mutton fat, rape oil, vinegar, port wine, and gravy.

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 the venison

  1. Rub the venison shoulder with sugar for 2-3 days.

  2. Wipe the shoulder clean.

  3. Soak the mutton fat in rape oil, vinegar, and port for 24 hours.

  4. Cut the venison into pieces.

Assemble the pasty

  1. Layer the pieces with fat in a dish.

  2. Season the bottom of the dish with salt and pepper.

  3. Add butter to the dish.

  4. Pack the meat tightly, ensuring it doesn't lie hollow.

  5. Boil the venison bones with some mutton to make gravy.

  6. Reserve ½ pint of the gravy.

  7. Cover the meat with butter.

  8. Line the sides of the dish with a thick crust.

Bake and finish

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

  2. After baking, pour the hot gravy into the pasty using a funnel.

  3. Shake the pasty to mix.

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 shoulder
Provides the main meat, which becomes tender through long, slow cooking.
Mutton fat
Adds richness and moisture, keeping the meat juicy during the long bake.
Sugar
Rubbed into the venison, it adds light sweetness that balances the gamy meat.
Vinegar
Its acidity helps tenderise the meat during the soaking step.
Port wine
Adds depth and a subtly sweet, fruity aroma to the soaked fat.
Beef or mutton gravy
Poured in hot after baking to add moisture and savoury flavour to the pasty.

The step that matters

Packing the meat tightly. Gaps left in the dish let air pockets form, which can dry the meat and cause uneven cooking during the long, slow bake. Dense packing keeps the filling moist and evenly cooked.

“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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