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 ↓
Goose Stuffed with Sauerkraut
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare and cook
Stuff the goose with sauerkraut and sew the goose shut.
Place the goose in a large kettle.
Cover the goose with 2 quarts of sauerkraut.
Add boiling water to cover the goose.
Cook the goose for three hours.
Bake and serve
Remove the goose from the kettle.
Place the goose in a baking pan.
Baste the goose with melted butter.
Dredge the breast thickly with flour.
Bake the goose in a 400°F (200°C) oven until nicely browned, about one hour.
Serve the goose on a bed of the boiled sauerkraut.
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).
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
What each ingredient does
- Goose
- Provides the main meat, which becomes tender during the long simmer and browns in the oven.
- Sauerkraut
- Adds acidity and moisture, flavouring the goose as it cooks and the sauerkraut served with it.
- Melted butter
- Adds fat that helps the skin brown and crisp during baking.
- Flour
- Dusted on the breast, it helps the surface brown and form a crisp coating.
The step that matters
Bake until nicely browned. The goose was already cooked through by simmering, so the oven stage is mainly for browning. Basting with butter and dredging with flour help the skin colour evenly, and removing excess moisture first lets the surface brown instead of steaming.
“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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