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Perigord Pie

A savory pie filled with pheasant, partridge, grouse, woodcocks, truffles, gravy, claret, and bacon, topped with pastry.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: White pepper and mace are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,695 recipes. Both carry myrcene, which smells balsamic, herbaceous. The science ↓

Perigord 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. Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).

  2. Season the boned pheasant, partridge, grouse, and woodcocks with white pepper, salt, and mace.

  3. Mix minced truffles with beaten egg to bind the mixture.

Assemble and bake

  1. Arrange the pheasant in the center and surround it with the other birds.

  2. Fill gaps with truffles and pour gravy and claret over the meat.

  3. Cover the meat with a thin layer of bacon, then cover with pastry.

  4. Bake for three hours.

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. White pepper + macetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,695 recipes

    Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).

  2. Pheasant + truffletop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together133 recipes

    Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).

  3. Truffle + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,604 recipes

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

  4. White pepper + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,312 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).

  5. Mace + truffletop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together462 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-pinene (pine, resin).

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

What each ingredient does

Truffles
Add a strong earthy aroma and flavor that fills the gaps between the birds.
Egg
Binds the minced truffles together so they hold within the mixture.
Gravy
Adds moisture that keeps the meat from drying out during the long bake.
Claret
Adds acidity and wine flavor that moistens and seasons the meat.
Bacon
Lays fat over the meat, adding moisture and savory flavor as it cooks.

The step that matters

Baking for three hours at low heat. Game birds are lean and can dry out or toughen if overcooked. A low oven with added gravy and claret cooks the meat slowly, keeping it moist while the pastry and layered birds cook through.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pheasant, mace, truffle, egg):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Parsleyfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pheasant, mace, truffle, 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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