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Blackbird Pie

A pie of small game birds stuffed with bread and pork, baked in a crust.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Bread and pork are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,371 recipes. Both carry 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline, which smells popcorn, roasted. The science ↓

Blackbird Pie

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the birds

  1. Skin and draw the birds, cutting off the heads and feet.

  2. Stuff each bird with the buttered, peppered, and salted bread.

Assemble and bake

  1. Place the birds in a pudding dish with slices of fat salt pork.

  2. Add a little cold water and cover with pie crust.

  3. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 30 to 40 minutes.

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. Bread + porktop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,371 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  2. Pepper + porktop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,121 recipes

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

  3. Bread + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,964 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Blackbirds
Provide the meat that forms the filling of the pie.
Fat salt pork
Bastes the birds as it melts, adding moisture and savory fat to the filling.
Rich pie crust
Encloses the birds and steam, forming a sealed top that bakes golden.
Buttered bread
Sits inside each bird, adding moisture and richness as it absorbs juices.

The step that matters

Covering with pie crust. The crust must seal the dish so steam and juices stay inside, keeping the small birds moist while the crust bakes and browns.

“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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