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Petits Cremes of Pheasants

A small custard made from pheasant meat and cream, steamed in molds.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Petits Cremes of Pheasants

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the base

  1. Rub the pheasant through a clean wire sieve into a plate.

  2. Scrape out any remaining bits from the mortar and add them back to the sieve.

  3. Sprinkle salt and cayenne pepper over the mixture.

  4. Gradually mix in 1 pint of cream, adding it in portions until fully incorporated.

Steam and shape

  1. Place a tablespoon of the mixture into buttered dariole molds.

  2. In a saucepan, bring 1 cup of hot water to a boil.

  3. Stand the dariole molds in the boiling water and steam for a few minutes.

  4. Test the consistency; it should be slightly firmer than a baked custard.

  5. Adjust the cream quantity as needed for desired consistency.

  6. Transfer the cream into a linen bag with a tin pipe and squeeze into the dariole molds.

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. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  3. Cream + peppertop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together21,449 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Cream and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 21,449 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

Pheasant (in the method)
Provides the main body and flavour of the mixture once pushed smooth through the sieve.
Fresh double cream
Adds richness and moisture, and sets softly into a custard-like texture when steamed.

The step that matters

Testing the consistency before molding. The mixture should be slightly firmer than a baked custard. Cream-based mixtures that are too loose will not hold their shape when turned out, and over-steaming can make them grainy or curdled.

“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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