Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Partridges, Roast
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.
Roast
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Roast the partridges until browned on one side, then turn to brown the other side.
Finish and serve
Once cooked, pour thick cream over the partridges.
Sprinkle browned bread crumbs, sautéed in butter, on top.
Serve hot.
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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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Cream + breadtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together5,789 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Partridges
- Form the main body of the dish, browning and cooking through as the roasted centrepiece.
- Thick cream
- Adds richness and moisture, softening the savoury flavour of the roasted birds.
- Bread crumbs
- Provide a crisp, golden topping through browning in butter.
- Butter
- Adds fat and flavour, and helps the bread crumbs brown evenly.
The step that matters
Browning the partridges on both sides. Browning builds flavour through the Maillard reaction, but turning too early or leaving the birds too long can dry the meat. Brown evenly, then keep the heat controlled so the meat stays moist.
“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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