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French Pie

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 16 ingredients
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Why it works: Artichoke and asparagus match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 165 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓

French 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.

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Make a raised crust in a buttered tin and brush it with egg yolk.

  3. Cover the bottom with forcemeat.

  4. Fill the pie with sweetbread, oysters, chicken, turkey, rabbit, artichoke bottoms, asparagus tops, forcemeat balls, and mushrooms, layering them evenly.

  5. Season lightly with mace, cloves, and cayenne pepper.

  6. Bake in the oven until done.

  7. Pour in some good white sauce before serving.

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. Artichoke + asparagustop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together165 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  2. Chicken + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,172 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-butyl acetate (fruity, banana).

  3. Turkey + rabbittop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together57 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Asparagus + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together400 recipes

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

  5. Chicken + turkeytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together688 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-decenal (green, must).

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

Swap the asparagus

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, oyster, chicken, turkey, rabbit, artichoke, mushroom):

  1. Shallotfits about as well
  2. Asparagusthe original
  3. Spinachfits about as well
  4. Chivefits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, oyster, chicken, turkey, rabbit, artichoke, mushroom. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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