Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Grouse Larded
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the grouse
Lard the breast of the grouse and insert 2 lardoons in each leg.
Truss the grouse and place it on a trivet in a shallow pan.
Rub the grouse with coarse sea salt.
Brush the grouse with melted butter and dredge with flour.
Surround the grouse with trimmings of fat salt pork.
Bake and serve
Bake for 30 minutes at 400°F (200°C), basting 3 or 4 times.
Serve on hot buttered toast.
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.
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + porktop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,933 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
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Flour + porktop 27% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together11,187 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
- Grouse
- Forms the main body of the dish, cooked whole so the meat stays moist under the fat.
- Lardoons
- Strips of pork fat threaded into the meat to add moisture and richness during roasting.
- Melted butter
- Coats the bird to promote browning and add richness to the skin.
- Flour
- Dusted over the buttered bird to help form a crisp, browned crust.
- Trimmings of fat salt pork
- Surrounds the bird in the pan, releasing fat that bastes the grouse and adds flavour.
The step that matters
Basting during baking. Basting spreads the rendered fat and pan juices over the bird, keeping the surface moist and promoting even browning while the lean meat cooks.
“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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