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Raised Pie of Larks, with Fines Herbes

A pie of larks seasoned with fines herbes, baked with bacon fat, bay leaves, and topped with brown sauce, mushrooms, and truffles.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Mushroom and truffle are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,900 recipes. Both carry 2,4-nonadienal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Raised Pie of Larks, with Fines Herbes

Oven, in the book's wordsA brisk oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a brisk oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Season the larks with fines herbes and let them cool.

  2. Remove the gizzards and chop the entrails.

  3. Pound and mix the entrails with godiveau and fines herbes.

  4. Prepare the pie crust and line the bottom and sides with farce.

Assemble and bake

  1. Layer in a dozen larks, spreading a fourth of the seasoning on top.

  2. Repeat the layering twice.

  3. Cover with the remaining seasoning, bay leaves, and bacon fat.

  4. Bake at 400°F (200°C) for 1.5 hours.

Finish

  1. Mask the pie with a thin brown sauce.

  2. Garnish with sliced mushrooms and truffles.

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. Mushroom + truffletop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,900 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  2. Meat + truffletop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together527 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  3. Meat + mushroomtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,423 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  4. Sauce + mushroomtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,480 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Meat + saucetop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,167 recipes

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

What each ingredient does

Larks
Form the main meat filling that gives the pie its rich, savoury flavour.
Godiveau
Adds a fine, moist forcemeat texture that binds and enriches the filling.
Bacon fat
Adds fat for moisture and helps the top brown during baking.
Brown sauce
Glazes the finished pie, adding savoury depth and a glossy surface.
Mushrooms
Add earthy flavour and moisture to the garnish.
Truffles
Contribute a concentrated, aromatic flavour to the finished pie.

The step that matters

Bake at 400°F (200°C) for 1.5 hours. Baking long enough lets the larks cook through and the forcemeat set, while the bacon fat helps the crust and top brown evenly without drying the meat.

“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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