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A Tex Ison Pasty

A venison pasty with puff pastry crust and gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Vinegar and red wine work together. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 575 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓

A Tex Ison Pasty

Oven, in the book's wordsA very quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a very quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the venison

  1. Bone the neck and breast of venison, season with pepper and salt.

  2. Cut the breast into 2-3 pieces, keeping the fat on the neck intact.

  3. Layer the venison in a pie dish, placing the neck on top.

Make the gravy

  1. In the meantime, simmer the bones in 2 quarts of water with mace, onion, crust, and whole pepper until reduced by half, then strain.

Bake and serve

  1. Make a thick puff pastry crust, covering the dish and sealing it well.

  2. Add the butter and water to the dish, then bake for 2 hours at 400°F (200°C).

  3. After baking, lift the lid of the pasty and pour in the gravy.

  4. If the venison is not fatty enough, add mutton fat soaked in vinegar and red wine on top before sealing the pasty.

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. Vinegar + red winetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together575 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  2. Venison + muttontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together279 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

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

  4. Venison + red winetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together167 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Onion + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,226 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

What each ingredient does

Venison
Forms the main meat filling, with its fat keeping the meat moist as it bakes.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, helping the meat and pastry stay moist and flavorful.
Puff pastry crust
Encloses the meat and steam, forming a sealed case that cooks the filling gently.
Mutton fat
Adds extra fat and flavor to lean venison, keeping it moist during baking.

The step that matters

Sealing the crust. A tight seal traps steam inside the pie so the venison cooks gently in its own juices. A leaky seal lets moisture escape, leaving the meat dry.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (venison, pepper, butter, onion, mutton, vinegar, red wine):

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Rosemaryfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against venison, pepper, butter, onion, mutton, vinegar, red wine. 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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