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Croustades of Snow-birds

Croustades of Snow-Birds are roasted birds stuffed with foie gras, served on fried bread with a sherry-brown sauce and truffle garnish.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Mushroom and truffle are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,900 recipes. Both carry 2,4-nonadienal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Croustades of Snow-birds

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the birds

  1. Bone the snow-birds.

  2. Fill them with pâté.

  3. Place a piece of bacon on the breast of each bird.

  4. Roll the birds in paper.

  5. Place the birds in a slightly buttered sauté pan.

  6. Pour over half the sherry and ½ cup of stock.

  7. Cover with buttered paper.

Cook and serve

  1. Cook in a 350°F (175°C) oven for twelve minutes.

  2. Remove the paper.

  3. Place the birds on the croustades.

  4. In a pan, fry the bones of the birds, mushroom, herbs, onion, and a small piece of butter for fifteen minutes.

  5. Add the remaining sherry, glaze, brown sauce, sugar, and the liquid from the birds.

  6. Boil for fifteen minutes.

  7. Skim well.

  8. Strain.

  9. Chop the truffles.

  10. Add them to the sauce, along with pepper and salt.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Mushroom + truffletop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,900 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  2. Sherry + mushroomtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,176 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol (smoky, clove).

  3. Bread + mushroomtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Mushroom + oniontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,626 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Sauce + sugartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,147 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Snow-birds
Provide the tender meat that is the main element of the dish.
Pâté de foie gras
Adds richness and a smooth, fatty texture to the filling.
Fat bacon
Bastes the birds with fat as they cook, keeping the meat moist.
Sherry
Adds acidity and sweetness that deepen the flavour of the sauce.
Brown sauce
Forms the body and savoury depth of the finished sauce.
Truffles
Contribute a strong, earthy aroma to the sauce.

The step that matters

Cook in a 350°F (175°C) oven for twelve minutes. Birds are small and lean, so overcooking dries the meat quickly. Covering them with buttered paper traps moisture and keeps them tender while they cook.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, sherry, mushroom, sauce, sugar, truffle):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Asparagusfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, sherry, mushroom, sauce, sugar, truffle. 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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