Name: Game Pie
Ingredients: 1 pheasant; 1 part-ridge; 3 slices cooked ham, finely chopped; forcemeat; allspice; pepper; coarse sea salt; gravy; raised pie crust (see 'Pastry')

Why it works: Allspice and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,395 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Game Pie

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the birds by cutting them up and removing as much bone as possible.
Line a pie mold with the crust rolled out to about ½ inch thick, ensuring there are no cracks.
Add the pieces of game, forcemeat, seasoning, and finely chopped ham into the mold, along with a little gravy.
Brush the top of the pie with egg wash and bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 4 hours.
Make a strong gravy using the bones of the birds and pour it into the pie through a hole at the top after baking, which will be hidden by the center ornament.

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.

Allspice + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,395 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Pheasant + hamtop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together113 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Pheasant + peppertop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together462 recipes

Shared aroma: sabinene (woody, terpenic).
Ham + peppertop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together6,058 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Pheasant + allspicetop 24% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together32 recipes

Shared aroma: sabinene (woody, terpenic).