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Partridges Stewed with Cabbage

A stew of partridges, cabbage, bacon, and gravy, seasoned with salt and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Cabbage and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,081 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Partridges Stewed with Cabbage

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Clean and cut the partridges in half.

  2. Wash the cabbage and quarter it.

Assemble and cook

  1. Place the cabbage in a deep pie dish or cooking pot.

  2. Lay the partridges on top of the cabbage and add the bacon slices.

  3. Pour the gravy over the birds and season with salt and pepper.

  4. Cover the dish tightly.

  5. Cook for 2 hours in a 350°F (175°C) oven, or on the stove if using an earthenware pot.

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. Cabbage + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,081 recipes

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

  2. Meat + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,777 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. Cabbage + meattop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together292 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

Partridges
Provide the main meat, which becomes tender and flavorful as it stews slowly.
Cabbage
Forms the base of the dish and absorbs juices and fat as it braises.
Bacon
Adds fat and smoky, salty flavor that seasons the birds and cabbage as they cook.
Gravy
Supplies liquid that keeps the dish moist and carries flavor during the long cook.

The step that matters

Cover the dish tightly. A tight cover traps steam so the liquid stays in the dish and the birds and cabbage braise gently rather than drying out during the long cook.

Swap the cabbage

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Mustardfits better
  3. Carrotfits better
  4. Cabbagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, 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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