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Lark Pie

A savory pie made with larks, bacon, beef, herbs, and gravy, topped with flaky pastry.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Lark Pie

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the larks

  1. Empty the larks and remove their heads, necks, and legs.

  2. Roll the larks in flour.

  3. Fill the larks with moist forcemeat.

Layer and bake

  1. Place the beef at the bottom of a baking dish.

  2. Cook the beef slightly if it is not tender.

  3. Layer half the bacon over the beef.

  4. Place the larks on top of the bacon.

  5. Add the remaining bacon and beef on top of the larks.

  6. Make gravy from the trimmings.

  7. Pour the gravy over the layers.

  8. Cover with flaky pastry.

  9. Bake at 400°F (200°C) for about 1.5 hours until well glazed.

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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Parsley + oniontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

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

  4. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Larks
Form the main filling, with their flesh providing the rich, savoury body of the pie.
Bacon
Adds fat and savoury flavour, basting the larks and beef as the pie bakes.
Lean beef
Contributes savoury meaty flavour and body to the layers beneath the larks.
Forcemeat of herbs
Adds moisture and binds the filling, keeping the larks juicy inside the pie.
Flaky pastry
Forms a crisp, golden crust that seals in the filling and browns in the oven.

The step that matters

Cover with flaky pastry and bake until well glazed. Pastry needs enough oven heat to brown and set, while the filling must cook through. Too little heat leaves the crust pale and soggy; too much dries the meat before the larks are tender.

Swap the onion

The recipe marks onion as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, pepper, parsley):

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Potatofits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, pepper, parsley. 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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