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Raised Game Pie

A pie of game meats and eggs set in aspic jelly.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 13,015 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Raised Game Pie

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Prepare the aspic jelly according to package instructions.

  2. Clean and prepare the partridges or pigeons.

  3. Chop the veal, fresh pork, and lean ham into small pieces.

Assemble and set

  1. Layer the meat, hard-boiled eggs, and mushrooms or truffles in a pie dish.

  2. Season with pepper, coarse sea salt, and nutmeg.

  3. Pour the aspic jelly over the layered ingredients.

  4. Chill until set, then serve.

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 + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

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

  2. Pork + mushroomtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,875 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-propylphenol (allspice, anise).

  3. Veal + porktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,930 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

  4. Mushroom + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,580 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Pork + hamtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,638 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

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

What each ingredient does

Aspic jelly
Sets around the meats and eggs, forming a firm, sliceable gelatin that holds the pie together.
Partridges or pigeons
Provide the main game meat, contributing the dish's principal savory flavor and texture.
Veal
Adds tender, mild meat that bulks up the filling and gives a delicate texture.
Fresh pork
Adds fat and moisture, keeping the meat filling juicy and rich.
Lean ham
Contributes salty, cured meat flavor that stands out against the mild veal.
Hard-boiled eggs
Add firm, pale slices that give structure and contrast to the layered filling.

The step that matters

Pour the aspic jelly over the layered ingredients. The aspic must be liquid but not too hot when poured, so it fills the gaps without cooking the meat or melting the layers apart. It then needs full chilling to set firmly enough to slice.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, pork, ham, egg, mushroom, pepper):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Marjoramfits better
  3. Parsleyfits better
  4. Nutmegthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, pork, ham, egg, mushroom, pepper. 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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