Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Roast Quails
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Pluck and dress the quails like chickens, then wash them well.
Rub the quails inside and out with salt and pepper.
Stuff the quails with your chosen dressing and sew them up with fine thread.
Spread butter over the quails and place them in a 400°F (200°C) oven.
Turn and baste the quails often while baking for about one hour.
Halfway through baking, add a little hot water to the pan.
To prevent excessive browning, place a dripping pan over the quails.
When done, serve with gravy made from flour and butter mixed together, adding water if needed.
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.
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.
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Quail + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together212 recipes
Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).
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Quail + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together512 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Quail + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together391 recipes
Shared aroma: sabinene (woody, terpenic).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
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