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Forcemeat Pie

A pie filled with forcemeat, fowl, ham, tongue, and optional truffles, mushrooms, and forcemeat balls, baked at 300°F.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 16 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Forcemeat Pie

Oven, in the book's wordsA very steady oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a very steady oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Prepare the forcemeat and set aside.

  2. Parboil or braise the fowl until half cooked.

Assemble

  1. Line a pie case with forcemeat, ensuring it's at least ½ inch thick.

  2. Place the cold fowl in the case and fill vacant spaces with ham, tongue, truffles, mushrooms, and forcemeat balls.

  3. Top with slices of ham or bacon to prevent dryness.

  4. Season well with salt, white pepper, cayenne, lemon peel, and nutmeg or mace.

  5. Cover with a lid of pastry and secure with a band of pastry around the mold.

Bake and glaze

  1. Bake in a steady oven at 300°F (150°C) for 2.5 to 3 hours.

  2. Glaze the top when nearly done, but avoid over-browning.

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. Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Parsley + nutmegtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,062 recipes

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

  3. Truffle + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,900 recipes

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

  4. Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,318 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. Mushroom + parsleytop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,132 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Forcemeat
Forms a seasoned, tender meat lining and filling that holds the pie together.
Fowl
Provides the main body of the pie, becoming tender and juicy as it cooks through.
Thin ham or bacon
Lays over the top to shield the filling from drying out during the long bake.
Pastry
Encloses the filling as a lid and band, sealing in moisture while the pie bakes.
Hard-boiled eggs
Adds richness and a firm, sliced contrast to the meat filling.

The step that matters

Keeping the forcemeat lining at least ½ inch thick. A thin lining can dry out or cook unevenly over the long, slow bake, while a thick, evenly packed layer protects the fowl and keeps the pie moist.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, truffle, mushroom, egg, parsley, lemon, nutmeg):

  1. Marjoramfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, truffle, mushroom, egg, parsley, lemon, nutmeg. 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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