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Leicestershire Pork Pie

A savory pie filled with seasoned pork, encased in a hot‑water crust.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Sage and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,485 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Leicestershire Pork Pie

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the filling

  1. Cut the pork into square pieces, about the size of a cob‑nut.

  2. Season the pork with pepper, salt, sage, and thyme, and set aside in a cool place.

  3. Prepare hot‑water paste for the crust.

Assemble and bake

  1. Line a pie dish with the paste, fill with the seasoned pork, and cover with more paste.

  2. Seal the edges, trim, and decorate the top.

  3. Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven for about 2 hours.

  4. Serve hot.

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. Sage + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,485 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Pepper + sagetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,388 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Pepper + thymetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,585 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Pork + sagetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,527 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  5. Pork + thymetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,108 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

Pork
Fat and lean meat provide the filling's main body, juiciness and rich flavour.
Hot-water paste
Sturdy, pliable pastry that holds the filling's shape while baking.
Sage
Adds a savoury, herbal aroma that complements the pork.
Thyme
Adds an earthy, herbal aroma that complements the pork.

The step that matters

Cutting and seasoning the pork before assembly. Pieces of even size cook through at the same rate, and seasoning the meat before it is sealed in pastry lets salt and herbs distribute through the filling.

Swap the thyme

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, pepper, sage):

  1. Marjoramfits about as well
  2. Thymethe original
  3. Rosemaryfits less well
  4. Parsleyfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against pork, pepper, sage. 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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