Why it works: Pepper and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Partridges or Pheasants Au Choux
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the birds
Stuff the boned birds with the seasoned force-meat and sew them up.
Blanch the birds, then dry them.
Braise them in 1 pint of stock until tender.
Prepare the savoys
Cut the savoy cabbages into quarters.
Boil the quarters until a quarter cooked, then squeeze them.
Tie the quarters with twine and place them in a stewpan.
Add 1 pint of stock and boil gently until done.
Remove the savoys and cut off the strings.
Make the sauce and serve
Place the birds in the centre of a dish with the savoys around them.
Mix the cooking liquids and season with pepper, salt, and lemon juice.
Thicken with flour and water, then boil the sauce until reduced by three parts.
Add colour and strain.
Glaze the birds' breasts lightly.
Pour the sauce over the savoys.
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.
-
Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together27,047 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
-
Cabbage + peppertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,081 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Cabbage + lemontop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together397 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
-
Pheasant + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together225 recipes
Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).
-
Pheasant + cabbagetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together16 recipes
Shared aroma: geraniol (rose, geranium).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Partridges or pheasants
- Provide the main meat, which becomes tender through long braising in stock.
- Savoy cabbages
- Provide a tender, absorbent base that soaks up the flavour of the cooking liquid.
- Stock
- Braises the birds and savoys and forms the base of the sauce.
- Force-meat
- Adds moisture and richness to the birds as they cook inside the stuffing.
- Flour
- Thickens the cooking liquid into a glossy sauce that clings to the savoys.
The step that matters
Boil the sauce until reduced by three parts. Reducing concentrates the flavour of the mixed cooking liquids, while flour thickens them; boiling too hard or too long can scorch the sauce or make it pasty.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pheasant, meat, cabbage, pepper, flour):
- Lemonthe original
- Limefits about as well
- Avocadofits less well
- Raisinfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against pheasant, meat, cabbage, pepper, flour. 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.
You might also like
Lemon Sauce236 recipes
Red Cabbage65 recipes
Stewed Cabbage58 recipes
Meat Croquettes52 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.