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Farce or Forcemeat for Raised Pies

A seasoned mixture of veal, bacon, herbs, and eggs used as filling for raised pies.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and shallot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,737 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Farce or Forcemeat for Raised Pies

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the meat

  1. Scrape the bacon and veal to remove sinews.

  2. Pound the bacon and veal together in a mortar.

Bind the filling

  1. Add the crumb of the French roll, seasoning salt, spices, savory herbs, and parsley; pound until well incorporated.

  2. Mix in the raw egg yolks to bind the mixture into a malleable paste.

Finish the filling

  1. Fold in the chopped truffles, mushrooms, and shallots, using shallots sparingly.

  2. For fowl, game, or rabbit pies, add the livers and some ham.

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. Parsley + shallottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,737 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Shallot + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,982 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. Truffle + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,900 recipes

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

  4. Veal + truffletop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together815 recipes

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

  5. Parsley + mushroomtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,132 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Veal
Provides the lean meat base that gives the filling its body.
Bacon
Adds fat that keeps the filling moist and rich as it cooks.
French roll
Crumb absorbs fat and moisture, giving the filling a softer, lighter texture.
Raw egg yolks
Bind the mixture together and help it set firm when cooked.
Truffles
Contribute a strong, earthy aroma that defines the flavour.

The step that matters

Mix in the raw egg yolks to bind the mixture into a malleable paste.. Egg yolk proteins coagulate when heated, so the binding only works if the yolks are evenly mixed through the meat and crumb first. Uneven mixing leaves loose pockets that may not set firmly.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, truffle, shallot, mushroom, egg):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Tarragonfits about as well
  3. Thymefits about as well
  4. Parsleythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, truffle, shallot, mushroom, egg. 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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