Why it works: Chestnut and pheasant work together. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and 27 recipes mention both. Both carry geraniol, which smells rose, geranium. The science ↓
The recipe
Serves 2Ingredients
Contains: milk, tree nuts (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.
Put the chestnuts in a pan of boiling water and simmer for 15 minutes until tender. Drain, then roughly chop them.
Trim the Brussels sprouts and halve them. Fry the bacon lardons in a dry frying pan over medium heat for about 5 minutes until crisp. Remove them, leaving the fat in the pan.
Add the sprouts to the bacon fat and cook for 4 minutes, stirring. Add the chopped chestnuts and cook for 2 more minutes.
Pour in the red wine and simmer for about 3 minutes until reduced by half. Add the double cream and simmer for 5 minutes until thickened. Season with salt and pepper, then return the bacon and keep warm.
Heat a griddle pan over high heat until very hot. Rub the pheasant breasts with olive oil and season well with salt and pepper.
Chargrill the pheasant breasts for 5 to 6 minutes per side, until the thickest part reaches 165°F (74°C). Rest them for 3 minutes.
Slice the pheasant breasts and serve on the creamed Brussels sprouts, chestnuts and bacon.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
-
Chestnut + pheasanttop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together27 recipes
Shared aroma: geraniol (rose, geranium).
-
Olive + red winetop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,239 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).
-
Pepper + olivetop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together27,398 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptenal (green).
-
Pepper + red winetop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,070 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
-
Chestnut + olivetop 8% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together144 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
The Sunday pairing: one pairing, the chemistry behind it, and how to cook it. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account for sign-in; Pro adds the full results and chemistry.