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Broiled Woodcock

Broiled 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

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

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 birds

  1. Split the woodcock down the back.

  2. Lard the breast with fat salt pork.

Season and bake

  1. Place each bird on a slice of buttered toast, breast side down.

  2. Season with salt, pepper, and bits of butter, breaking the bone slightly to allow seasoning to penetrate.

  3. Turn the birds over and season the top with salt, pepper, and butter.

  4. Set in a 400°F (200°C) oven for a moment before serving.

Serve

  1. 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. Pepper + buttertop 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 whole and split for even broiling.
Fat salt pork
Larding adds fat that bastes the lean breast meat and keeps it moist as it cooks.
Buttered toast
Soaks up drippings and juices from the birds, giving a rich base under them.
Butter
Adds fat and richness that promotes browning on the seasoned surface.
Currant jelly
Adds sweetness and acidity that contrast with the rich, savory birds.

The step that matters

Setting in the oven. The birds cook quickly and can dry out or overcook in a short time, so the oven stage should be brief and watched closely. Fat from the pork and butter helps keep the breast moist while the surface browns.

Swap the currant

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

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

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