Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Roasted Partridges
Ingredients
Directions
Pluck the partridges, draw and truss them, and fasten some thin slices of fat bacon around them, and roast for fifteen minutes in a hot oven. Five minutes before dishing take the bacon off, sprinkle a little salt over the birds, and brown them. Put the partridges on a hot dish, and serve them with a sauceboatful of brown gravy.
Mrs. M. J. Connell. PIGEONS.
From six pigeons take the hearts and livers, put in a cup ; use enough lean fresh pork and calves' liver to make a cup of the meat; put through the grinder. Add a slice of bread cut in dice and browned in butter, about a teaspoon of grated onion, one-fourth cup of currants, one sour apple grated, two eggs, half teaspoon of salt, quarter teaspoon of pepper, quar- ter teaspoon of paprika, quarter teaspoon kitchen bouquet, same of minced parsley. After dressing them, tie down wings and legs, put two tablespoons of butter in a frying pan, when hot lay the pigeon in to brown, then add half cup of soup stock ; put them on back of range to simmer three-quarters of an hour. Melt half cup jelly to add to the gravy, with a little flour.
Mrs. J. G. Mossin.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 9 of 10 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 9 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| Apple | 1 medium (182g) | 95 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Grape | 1/2 cup (76g) | 62 |
| Onion | 1 medium (110g) | 44 |
| Black Pepper | 1 tsp ground (2.3g) | 6 |
| Parsley | 1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g) | 1 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| Soup | not in our table | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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. See the original page.
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.
-
Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together25,843 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
-
Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Currant + appletop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,918 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, butter, bread, onion, apple, egg, parsley):
- Lemonfits better
- Plumfits better
- Figfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, butter, bread, onion, apple, egg, parsley. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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