Why it works: Onion and mace are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,078 recipes. Both carry eugenol, which smells clove, spicy. The science ↓
Salmi of Game
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the game
Carve the roasted game very neatly, strip skin and fat from legs, wings, and breasts.
Bruise the bodies well, and put them with skin and trimmings into a very clean stewpan.
Add two sliced onions, a bay leaf, a small blade of mace, and a few peppercorns.
Make the sauce
Pour in a pint or more of good veal gravy or strong broth and boil briskly until reduced nearly half.
Strain the gravy, pressing the bones well to obtain all the flavor, then skim off the fat.
Add a little cayenne and lemon juice.
Finish and serve
Heat the game very gradually in it, but do not allow it to boil.
Place pieces of fried bread around a dish, arrange the birds in good form in the centre.
Give the sauce a boil, and pour it on them.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 3 of 4 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 3 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Onion | 1 medium (110g) | 44 |
| Lemon | juice of 1 lemon (48ml) | 12 |
| Cayenne | 1 tsp (1.8g) | 6 |
| Mace | 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.
-
Onion + macetop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together7,078 recipes
Shared aroma: eugenol (clove, spicy).
-
Mace + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,315 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
-
Onion + lemontop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,646 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Game (in the method)
- Forms the main body of the stew and gives its rich, gamey flavor.
- Two sliced onions
- Add savory sweetness and aroma to the broth as it simmers.
- Veal gravy or strong broth (in the method)
- Provides the liquid base, whose reduction concentrates flavor into the sauce.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the rich sauce and balances its fattiness.
The step that matters
Heat the game very gradually without boiling. Boiling toughens meat proteins and makes them dry and stringy, so gentle heat keeps the game tender and juicy.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, mace):
- Applefits better
- Mangofits better
- Avocadofits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against onion, mace. 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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