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Petits Pates of Pheasants and Truffles

Petits Pâtés of Pheasants and Truffles are small meat pies filled with minced pheasant and truffles.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Petits Pates of Pheasants and Truffles

Ingredients

Directions

Make the filling

  1. Mince the roasted pheasant breast and stewed truffles.

  2. Mix them in a saucepan with the strong butter sauce and veal glaze, then heat the mixture until very hot.

  3. Squeeze in the lemon juice, add the egg yolk, and stir in the cream.

Fill the pâtés

  1. Fill your petits pâtés with the mixture.

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. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Sauce + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,787 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Truffle + vealtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together815 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  4. Truffle + buttertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,209 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

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

    Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).

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

What each ingredient does

Pheasant breast
Provides the main meaty body and texture of the filling.
Truffles
Adds a concentrated earthy aroma that defines the flavour of the filling.
Strong butter sauce
Adds richness and fat, giving the filling a smooth, moist texture.
Veal glaze
Adds concentrated savoury depth and body to the sauce.
Egg yolk
Acts as an emulsifier and thickener, helping the filling bind and set smoothly when heated.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness, softening the texture of the filling.

The step that matters

Heating the mixture until very hot before adding the egg yolk. Egg yolk thickens when heated, but if it is added to a mixture that is too hot it can scramble and turn grainy. Add it off the heat or after the mixture has cooled slightly, stirring steadily so the filling stays smooth.

“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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