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Broiled Woodcock

A roasted woodcock served on buttered toast with currant jelly.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Pork and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 13,933 recipes. Both carry 2-furfurylthiol, which smells coffee, roasted. The science ↓

Broiled Woodcock

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the birds

  1. Split the woodcock down the back.

  2. Lard the breast with fat salt pork.

  3. Prepare small pieces of buttered toast.

Season and broil

  1. Broil the woodcock until cooked through.

  2. Place each bird on a piece of toast, breast side down.

  3. Season with coarse sea salt, black pepper, and bits of butter.

  4. Gently break the bone to allow seasoning to penetrate.

  5. Turn the bird over.

  6. Season the top with coarse sea salt, black pepper, and butter.

  7. Set in the oven for a moment before serving.

  8. Serve with currant jelly.

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. Pork + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,933 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

  2. Pork + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,121 recipes

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

  3. Butter + curranttop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,856 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).

  4. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

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

  5. Pepper + curranttop 28% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,345 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).

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

What each ingredient does

Woodcock
Provides the main meat, which is cooked through under the broiler.
Fat salt pork
Larding adds fat that keeps the lean breast moist during cooking.
Butter
Adds fat and richness that carries seasoning and promotes browning on the toast and bird.
Buttered toast
Soaks up drippings and juices from the bird and gives a crisp, rich base.
Currant jelly
Adds sweetness and acidity that balances the rich, savory bird.

The step that matters

Broiling the woodcock until cooked through. Lean game birds dry out quickly under direct heat, so watch closely and stop once the meat is just cooked. Larding with fat salt pork helps protect the breast during broiling.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, butter, pepper):

  1. Lemonfits better
  2. Mangofits better
  3. Plumfits better
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pork, butter, pepper. 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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