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Potted Partridge

Partridges stewed with ham, herbs, and sherry, then served in clarified butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Isabella Beeton · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 18 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Potted Partridge

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the birds

  1. Pluck and draw the partridges, wiping them inside with a damp cloth.

  2. Pound mace, allspice, white pepper, and salt together, then rub the mixture over every part of the birds.

  3. Pack the birds closely in a baking pan, adding plenty of butter over them.

  4. Cover the birds with a coarse flour and water crust.

  5. Tie a paper over the crust and bake for more than 1½ hours.

  6. Let the birds cool, then cut them into pieces for keeping.

  7. Pack the pieces closely into a large potting pot and cover with clarified butter.

  8. Keep the potting in a cool, dry place.

Make the gravy

  1. After the partridges are plucked and drawn, roast them underdone, covering with paper to prevent browning.

  2. Cut the roasted birds into joints and remove skin from wings, legs, and breasts.

  3. Place the joints in a stewpan, cover, and set aside until the gravy is ready.

  4. Cut a slice of ham into small pieces and add to a stewpan with sliced carrots, shalots, mushrooms, herbs, cloves, and pepper.

  5. Fry the mixture lightly in a little butter.

  6. Pour in the stock and add the bones and trimming from the partridges.

  7. Simmer for ¼ hour.

  8. Strain the gravy, let it cool, and skim off fat.

  9. Return the gravy to the legs, wings, and breasts, adding a glass of sherry or Madeira and a small lump of sugar.

  10. Warm the mixture gradually by the side of the fire until it is about to boil.

Serve

  1. Serve, garnishing with croutons.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

331Calories
30 gProtein
15 gFat
15 gCarbs

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
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Pork100g cooked242
Carrot1 medium (61g)25
Wine2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)25
Mushroom1/2 cup sliced (35g)15
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Allspice1 tsp ground (1.9g)5
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Macenot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Isabella Beeton. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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.

  1. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Carrot + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,873 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Pepper + allspicetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Carrot + allspicetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,021 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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 is cooked, jointed and preserved under butter.
Butter (in the method)
Seals the birds and adds richness and moisture while they are stored.
Stock
Forms the liquid base of the gravy, carrying flavour from the bones and vegetables.
Sherry
Adds acidity and aroma to the finished gravy.
Mushrooms
Add savoury, earthy flavour to the gravy base.

The step that matters

Roast the partridges underdone and cover them with paper. Overcooking dries the lean birds, and the paper stops the surface browning too far before they are jointed, gently and evenly, in the gravy.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, carrot, mushroom, clove, pepper, sherry, allspice):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Marjoramfits better
  3. Winter savoryfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, carrot, mushroom, clove, pepper, sherry, allspice. 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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