Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and 124,287 recipes mention both. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Giblet Pie
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 the giblets
Clean the goose giblets well.
Stew the giblets in 1½ cups of water over low heat until half cooked.
Divide the necks, wings, legs, and gizzards into pieces.
Let the pieces cool in the cooking liquid.
Assemble the pie
Season the giblets with 1 teaspoon of black pepper, ¼ teaspoon of coarse sea salt, and ½ teaspoon of cayenne pepper.
Place the giblets in a pie dish.
Add 1 cup of the reserved cooking liquid to the dish.
Cover the pie with pie crust.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 1 to 1½ hours.
Make the gravy and serve
Skim the fat from the remaining cooking liquid.
Heat the skimmed liquid in a saucepan.
Thicken the liquid with 2 tablespoons of flour and 2 tablespoons of butter, adding pepper and salt to taste.
Bring the gravy to a boil.
Pour the gravy into the pie before serving.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Meat + buttertop 16% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together7,594 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Pepper + meattop 19% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together8,777 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Butter and flour share little aroma chemistry, yet 124,287 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Goose giblets
- Provide the main meat and rich flavor of the filling.
- Flour
- Thickens the cooking liquid into a smooth gravy.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness to the gravy and helps it thicken smoothly.
- Cayenne pepper
- Adds gentle heat that contrasts with the rich meat.
The step that matters
Thicken the gravy with flour and butter. Flour must be cooked into the butter and liquid, then brought to a boil, so the starch swells and thickens. Adding it straight to hot liquid without mixing first causes lumps.
“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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