Name: A Partridge Pie
Ingredients: 2 partridges; 1 beef or veal steak; coarse sea salt; black pepper; 1 small piece of lean ham (optional); 2 hard-boiled egg yolks; ¼ cup weak gravy; giblets; pie crust

Why it works: Beef and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,971 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

A Partridge Pie

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Season the partridges with salt and pepper.
Place the steak in a dish with the breasts of the partridges facing down.
If using veal, grate a little ham on top.

Bake and serve

Add the yolks of hard-boiled eggs, weak gravy, and giblets.
Cover with a pie crust and bake for 1.5 hours.
Serve with additional gravy.

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.

Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,971 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Beef + hamtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,729 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
Ham + eggtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,526 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Pepper + hamtop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together6,058 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Beef + eggtop 31% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,305 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

Partridges: Provide the main meat, which cooks through under the crust.
Beef or veal steak: Forms the base layer and adds meaty flavour and moisture to the pie.
Hard-boiled egg yolks: Add richness and a soft, crumbly texture to the filling.
Weak gravy: Supplies moisture so the filling stays juicy during baking.
Pie crust: Encloses the filling and browns in the oven.

“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.