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Salmi of Woodcocks a LA Bonne Bouche

A stew of roasted woodcocks simmered with stock, vegetables, Espagnol sauce, sherry, tomato puree, chutney, curry paste, and pickle.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,173 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Salmi of Woodcocks a LA Bonne Bouche

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the woodcock

  1. Roast 4 woodcocks the day before serving until nicely done.

  2. Cut off the quarters containing thighs and legs.

  3. Cut the side pieces from the breasts, leaving the pinion bone on.

  4. Cut the remainder of the breast from the backbone and set aside.

  5. Trim into 24 uniform pieces and place in a 2-quart stewpan.

Make the stock

  1. Chop the trimmings and place in a quart stewpan with 1 pint stock, onion, carrot, shallots, and celery.

  2. Boil for 1 hour.

  3. Strain and reduce the stock to a demi-glaze, skimming off grease and scum.

Finish the sauce

  1. Strain the demi-glaze into a quart stewpan and add ¾ pint Espagnol sauce, ⅓ cup sherry, tomato puree, chutney, curry paste, and mixed pickle.

  2. Boil together slowly for 15 minutes, skimming as needed.

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. Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Celery + tomatotop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,377 recipes

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

  3. Carrot + tomatotop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,606 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Woodcocks
Provide the main meat, which is cut into pieces and simmered in the stew.
Espagnol sauce
Adds body and a rich, thickened texture to the finished sauce.
Tomato puree
Adds concentrated tomato flavour, acidity and deeper colour to the sauce.
Sherry
Adds acidity and aromatic depth to the sauce.
Curry paste
Adds warm spice flavour that seasons the sauce.

The step that matters

Boil together slowly for 15 minutes, skimming as needed. Gentle simmering keeps the sauce from scorching on the bottom while reducing it and concentrating flavour. Skimming removes grease and scum that would otherwise cloud the sauce and taste greasy.

Swap the shallot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, carrot, celery, sauce, sherry, tomato):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Turnipfits better
  3. Potatofits better
  4. Shallotthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, carrot, celery, sauce, sherry, tomato. 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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