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Raised Pie

A raised pie of pheasant, partridges, hare, and rabbits stuffed with forcemeat, truffles, mushrooms, and boiled tongue, finished with aspic or consommé.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Pheasant and rabbit share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 55 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓

Raised Pie

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Remove the bones from the pheasant, partridges, hare, and rabbits.

  2. Prepare good forcemeat with truffles and mushrooms.

  3. Line a stewpan with a thick slice of fat ham.

Assemble and bake

  1. Stuff the birds with the forcemeat, truffles, and mushrooms, layering them alternately with the boiled tongue in the middle. Season between each layer.

  2. Cover with slices of fat ham and add a little second stock.

  3. Cover the stewpan and cook in a slow oven at 300°F (150°C) for 2-3 hours until well baked.

Finish and set

  1. Once cooked, remove the hot fat ham and strain off the remaining liquid.

  2. Remove the fat, season the liquid, and add a little more consomme and port wine, boiling it down slightly.

  3. Gradually pour the liquid over the meat, gently raising it with a knife to ensure it sinks well.

  4. Let it cool, then top with aspic jelly or consomme.

  5. Garnish with parsley and press the meat tightly in the dish to ensure it cuts firm when cold.

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. Pheasant + rabbittop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together55 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

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

  3. Mushroom + port winetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together570 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Mushroom + parsleytop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,132 recipes

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

  5. Truffle + hamtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together516 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

Forcemeat
Binds the stuffing and keeps the meat moist as it bakes.
Fat ham
Lines and covers the pot, adding fat and savoury flavour to the meat.
Port wine
Adds depth and sweetness to the reduced cooking liquid.
Aspic jelly
Sets when cold to hold the pie together and give a firm cut.

The step that matters

Pressing the meat when setting. Pressing the meat tightly into the dish while the liquid cools helps it hold together and cut firm once cold. Gelatine in the stock and aspic sets the liquid as it chills.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pheasant, rabbit, truffle, mushroom, ham, port wine):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Garlicfits better
  3. Celeryfits about as well
  4. Parsleythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pheasant, rabbit, truffle, mushroom, ham, port wine. 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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