Name: To Roast Pheasants, Partridges, Quails, or Grouse
Ingredients: a spoonful of browned flour; a pint of claret; two large oranges; salt; nutmeg

Why it works: Orange and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,746 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

To Roast Pheasants, Partridges, Quails, or Grouse

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the birds

Pick and draw the birds immediately after they are brought in.
Before you roast them, fill the inside with pieces of a fine ripe orange, leaving out the rind and seeds.
Or stuff them with grated cold ham, mixed with bread-crumbs, butter, and a little yolk of egg.
Lard them with small slips of the fat of bacon drawn through the flesh with a larding needle.

Roast and make the gravy

Roast them before a clear fire.
Make a fine rich gravy of the trimmings of meat or poultry, stewed in a little water, and thickened with a spoonful of browned flour.
Strain it, and set it on the fire again, having added half a pint of claret, and the juice of two large oranges.
Simmer it for a few minutes, pour some of it into the dish with the game, and serve the remainder in a boat.

Other ways to finish

If you stuff them with force-meat, you may, instead of larding, brush them all over with beaten yolk of egg.
Then cover them with bread-crumbs grated finely and sifted.
Chop some fine raw oysters, omitting the hard part; mix them with salt, and nutmeg, and add some beaten yolk of egg to bind the other ingredients.
Cut some very thin slices of cold ham or bacon, and cover the birds with them.
Then wrap them closely in sheets of white paper well buttered, put them on the spit, and roast them before a clear fire.

Serve

Send them to table with oyster-sauce in a boat.
Pies may be made of any of these birds in the same manner as a pigeon pie.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

529Calories

14 gProtein

2 gFat

111 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 4 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Orange	1 medium (131g)	62
Nutmeg	1 tsp ground (2.2g)	12
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

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

By Eliza Leslie. 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.

Orange + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,746 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,623 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + orangetop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,821 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Browned flour: Thickens the gravy and adds a toasted, richer flavour.
Claret: Adds acidity and wine flavour to the gravy as it simmers.
Oranges: Their juice adds acidity and a bright, fruity sweetness to the gravy.
Bacon fat (in the method): Larded through the flesh, it adds fat and moisture to the lean game.
Egg yolk (in the method): Binds the stuffing and forms a coating that helps the birds brown.
Oysters (in the method): Give the stuffing a briny richness that the nutmeg and salt season.

The step that matters

Thickening the gravy with browned flour. Flour must be stirred into the simmering stock and cooked through, or it forms lumps and leaves a raw, pasty taste. Strain and simmer afterward to keep the gravy smooth.

Swap the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, nutmeg):

Raisinfits better
Blueberryfits better
Limefits better
Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, nutmeg. 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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To Roast Pheasants, Partridges, Quails, or Grouse