Why it works: Nutmeg and mace are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,557 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓
Venison Pasty
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 gravy
Cut the venison into pieces, combining fat and lean meat.
Place bones and trimmings in a stew pan with salt, pepper, and enough water or veal broth to cover.
Simmer until a good gravy forms.
Strain the gravy.
Assemble the pasty
Roll out the pastry dough thickly.
Line a deep dish with the rolled pastry dough.
Season the meat with salt, pepper, nutmeg, and mace.
Place the seasoned meat in the dish.
Pour the prepared gravy and port or claret over the meat.
Dot the top with bits of butter rolled in flour.
Cover the dish with a thick lid of pastry.
Decorate the pastry lid with shapes cut from the dough.
Bake
Bake for 2 hours or more at 350°F (175°C), depending on size.
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.
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Nutmeg + macetop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,557 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
-
Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together13,015 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Nutmeg + flourtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Pepper + macetop 16% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together12,257 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Venison
- Provides the meat that forms the filling, with fat and lean pieces giving it richness and moisture.
- Port or claret
- Adds acidity and fruity depth to the gravy and filling.
- Butter
- Melts over the pastry top, adding fat that helps it brown and turn rich and flaky.
- Rich pastry dough
- Forms the lined dish and thick lid that enclose the filling during baking.
- Nutmeg
- Adds warm, aromatic spice flavour to the seasoned meat.
- Mace
- Adds a delicate, warm aroma to the seasoned meat, similar to nutmeg.
The step that matters
Straining the gravy before filling. Simmering bones and trimmings produces a gravy with fine solids and fat; straining removes these so the filling stays smooth and the gravy does not turn cloudy or greasy in the pasty.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (venison, pepper, veal, nutmeg, butter, flour):
- Parsleyfits better
- Sagefits better
- Cinnamonfits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against venison, pepper, veal, nutmeg, butter, flour. 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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