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Cochon De Lait Au Moine Blanc, En Galantine

A whole pig prepared as a galantine, stuffed with forcemeat, ham, and herbs, then boiled and served with sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and sage match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,485 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Cochon De Lait Au Moine Blanc, En Galantine

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Prepare the pig by boning it, leaving the head and feet intact without breaking the skin.

  2. Make a forcemeat with veal, beef suet, calf's udder, minced herbs, panada, and eggs to bind.

  3. Cover the inside of the boned pig with the forcemeat and rasp some ham over it.

  4. Sew the pig up to maintain its shape and bind it in a napkin with tape.

Cook and serve

  1. Boil the pig in seasoned broth for two hours over low heat.

  2. After boiling, remove the napkin and wipe the pig dry.

  3. Serve with brown Espagnole sauce or cold on a napkin.

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 + sagetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,485 recipes

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

  2. Basil + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,768 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  3. Basil + sagetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together223 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  4. Veal + beeftop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,784 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

  5. Veal + sagetop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together670 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

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

What each ingredient does

Forcemeat
Fills the boned pig and sets into a firm, sliceable stuffing as it cooks.
Eggs
Bind the forcemeat so it holds together when cooked and sliced.
Panada
Adds body and moisture to the forcemeat, keeping it tender rather than dry.
Veal
Provides lean meat for the forcemeat, giving a delicate, tender texture.
Beef suet
Adds fat to the forcemeat, keeping it moist and rich during cooking.
Ham
Rasped over the forcemeat to add savory, salty flavor.

The step that matters

Boiling the pig in seasoned broth. Holding the pig at a gentle, low simmer for the full two hours cooks the forcemeat evenly and keeps the meat tender. A hard boil can toughen the proteins and break the skin.

Swap the basil

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, beef, thyme, sage, egg, ham):

  1. Marjoramfits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Rosemaryfits better
  4. Basilthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, beef, thyme, sage, egg, ham. 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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