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Cold Raised Pies

A large pie filled with game, poultry, and aspic, baked slowly and served cold.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Turkey and pheasant share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 33 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓

Cold Raised Pies

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Boil the ham and tongues.

  2. Trim the boiled ham and tongues.

  3. Season the inside of the game and poultry.

  4. Garnish the inside of the game and poultry.

  5. Prepare highly-seasoned aspic jelly with the carcasses of the game and poultry, adding the calves' feet and vegetables.

  6. Clarify the aspic when done.

  7. Make 16 pounds of hot-water paste.

Build the pie

  1. Use the hot-water paste to raise a pie large enough to hold the game and poultry.

  2. Line the inside of the pie with thin layers of fat bacon.

  3. Spread a coating of force-meat over the bacon.

  4. Place the goose at the bottom of the pie.

  5. Surround the goose with small birds.

  6. Fill the cavities around the goose with force-meat.

  7. Add the turkey to the pie.

  8. Add the pheasants to the pie with slices of boiled ham in between.

  9. Reserve woodcocks and widgeons for the top of the pie.

  10. Fill remaining cavities with force-meat and truffles.

  11. Cover the filled cavities with bacon.

  12. Brush the bacon with melted butter.

  13. Cover the pie and decorate it.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake the pie in a moderately heated oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 6 hours.

  2. After baking, pour the reduced aspic into the pie.

  3. Seal the hole with paste.

  4. Let the pie cool in the larder.

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. Turkey + pheasanttop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together33 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  2. Truffle + buttertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,209 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  3. Ham + truffletop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together516 recipes

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

  4. Meat + turkeytop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together540 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  5. Ham + meattop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,095 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Hot-water paste
Forms a sturdy, moldable crust that holds the filling during long baking and cooling.
Force-meat of fat livers
Fills the gaps around the birds, adding richness and moisture as it cooks.
Fat bacon
Lines the crust and covers the filling, adding fat that bastes the meats and keeps them moist.
Calves' feet
Provide natural gelatin that sets the aspic, which later fills the baked pie.
Goose
Forms the rich, fatty base of the pie's layered filling.
Truffles
Add a strong, earthy aroma to the stuffing.

The step that matters

Baking the pie for about 6 hours at 350°F. A large, dense pie needs long, moderate heat so the centre cooks through without the crust over-browning. Pouring the aspic only after baking lets it set into a clear jelly as the pie cools.

“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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