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Grouse Pie

A savory pie filled with grouse, liver, veal, ham, shallot, parsley, truffles, and rolled rump steak.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Shallot and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,737 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Grouse Pie

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the filling

  1. Fry the calf’s liver in butter until lightly cooked.

  2. Add veal cutlet, lean ham, shallot, parsley, and truffles; mix well.

  3. Stuff the grouse with some of the mixture.

Assemble the pie

  1. Line a pie dish with the remaining mixture.

  2. Add the rolled rump steak.

  3. Place the stuffed grouse on top.

  4. Fill the dish with the remaining stuffing.

  5. Cover with pie crust and bake for 3 hours at 350°F (175°C).

  6. Place a thin sheet of buttered paper on top halfway through to prevent burning.

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. Shallot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,737 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Liver + vealtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together392 recipes

    Shared aroma: enoic acid (butter, cheesy).

  3. Veal + truffletop 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. Ham + truffletop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together516 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

Grouse
Forms the main meat centre of the pie, cooking through slowly in the filling.
Calf’s liver
Adds a rich, soft texture and savoury depth to the stuffing mixture.
Veal cutlet
Contributes tender meat texture and body to the filling.
Lean ham
Adds salty, savoury flavour that seasons the mixture.
Rump steak
Provides a rolled layer of beef that stays moist and firm inside the pie.
Truffles
Add a strong, earthy aroma that perfumes the filling.

The step that matters

Covering the pie with buttered paper halfway through baking. The crust and exposed surfaces brown quickly over a long bake at 350°F, and a sheet of buttered paper shields them from burning while the filling cooks through gently.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (liver, veal, ham, shallot, truffle, butter):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Parsleythe original
  3. Thymefits about as well
  4. Tarragonfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against liver, veal, ham, shallot, truffle, butter. 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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