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Raised Game Pie

A pie made with aspic jelly, game meats, veal, pork, ham, eggs, mushrooms, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 13,015 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Raised Game Pie

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. Prepare the aspic jelly according to package instructions.

  2. Cook the partridges or pigeons, veal, pork, and ham until done.

  3. Chop the meats and mix with the aspic jelly.

  4. Slice the hard-boiled eggs and mushrooms or truffles.

Assemble and set

  1. Layer the meat mixture, eggs, and mushrooms in a pie dish.

  2. Pour remaining aspic jelly over the top and chill until set.

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. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Pork + mushroomtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,875 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-propylphenol (allspice, anise).

  3. Veal + porktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,930 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

  4. Mushroom + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,580 recipes

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

  5. Pork + hamtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,638 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

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

What each ingredient does

Aspic jelly
Sets into a firm, clear gel that binds the meat and holds the pie together when sliced.
Eggs
Hard-boiled slices add structure and a firm, contrasting texture within the layers.
Veal
Lean meat that adds savory body and a tender texture to the filling.
Pork
Adds fat and richness, keeping the cooked meat moist and flavourful.
Ham
Contributes salty, cured flavour that seasons the filling.
Mushrooms
Add earthy flavour and a moist, tender texture to the layers.

The step that matters

Chill until set. The aspic must cool fully to form a firm gel; if the pie is sliced or moved too early, the layers can slump and fall apart.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, pork, ham, egg, mushroom, pepper):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Marjoramfits better
  3. Parsleyfits better
  4. Nutmegthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, pork, ham, egg, mushroom, pepper. 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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