Name: Venison Pie or Pastry
Ingredients: 2 pounds venison (neck, breast, and shoulder); Salt and pepper to taste; Water or veal broth (enough to cover the meat); 1 teaspoon nutmeg; 1 teaspoon mace; ⅓ cup port wine; Butter (for topping); Flour (for rolling butter); For the pastry: flour, water, and fat (to make a rich paste)

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 Pie or Pastry

Ingredients

2 pounds venison (neck, breast, and shoulder)
Salt and pepper to taste
Water or veal broth (enough to cover the meat)
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon mace
⅓ cup port wine
Butter (for topping)
Flour (for rolling butter)
For the pastry: flour, water, and fat (to make a rich paste)

Directions

Prepare the meat and 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 is formed, then strain it.

Assemble the pie

Make a rich pastry and roll it out thick, then cover the bottom and sides of a deep dish with it.
Season the meat with salt, pepper, nutmeg, and mace, then place it in the dish. Pour the prepared gravy and port wine over the meat.
Dot the top with bits of butter rolled in flour. Cover with a thick lid of pastry and decorate with leaves and flowers using a tin cutter.

Bake and finish

Bake for 2 or more hours, depending on size.
Brush the top with beaten egg just before it's done, then return to the oven to brown slightly.

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.

Nutmeg + macetop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,557 recipes

Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together13,015 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Nutmeg + flourtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,623 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Venison + port winetop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together239 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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: Forms the main body of the pie, and its mix of fat and lean meat keeps it moist during long cooking.
Port wine: Adds sweetness and depth to the gravy that poured over the meat.
Butter: Adds richness and moisture to the top, and its milk solids help the crust brown.
Flour: Gives the pastry its structure so it can be rolled thick and hold the filling.
Nutmeg: Contributes warm, aromatic spice flavor to the seasoned meat.
Mace: Contributes a delicate, aromatic spice flavor that complements the nutmeg in the meat.

The step that matters

Brushing the top with beaten egg. Egg wash browns through protein and sugar reactions, so brushing it too early can over-darken or burn the crust. Waiting until just before the pie is done gives an even, golden finish.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (venison, pepper, veal, nutmeg, port wine, butter, flour):

Cinnamonfits better
Marjoramfits better
Parsleyfits better
Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against venison, pepper, veal, nutmeg, port wine, 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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Beef, Mutton, or Veal Broth6 recipes

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Venison Pie or Pastry