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Game, Salmi of

A stew of game meat with ham, stock, claret, and herbs, finished with toasted sippets.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 16 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and shallot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,737 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Game, Salmi of

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the meat

  1. Carve the game meat into neat joints, discarding skin and gristle.

Make the stew

  1. In a saucepan, combine ham, butter, parsley, shallots, pepper, mace, salt, and cayenne, and stew gently for a few minutes.

  2. Mix in flour and mushroom powder until smooth.

  3. Add stock and claret, then bring to a boil.

  4. Incorporate bones and trimmings, and simmer over moderate heat for at least an hour.

  5. Add carrot, savory herbs, and bay leaf to the mixture.

  6. Skim, strain, and when ready to serve, add the joints back into the gravy and heat slowly without boiling.

Serve

  1. Garnish with toasted sippets.

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. Parsley + shallottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,737 recipes

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

  2. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Shallot + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,982 recipes

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

  4. Shallot + flourtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,081 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

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

What each ingredient does

Game meat (in the method)
Provides the main body and flavour of the stew, cooked slowly in the gravy.
Flour
Thickens the stock and claret into a smooth gravy as it cooks.
Claret
Adds acidity and wine flavour that balances the rich meat and gravy.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, helping to carry the flavour of the aromatics.
Shallots
Add a mild sweetness and savoury depth as they soften in the fat.
Ham
Adds salty, savoury depth to the base of the stew.

The step that matters

Heating the joints without boiling. Once the joints return to the gravy, boiling would toughen the meat proteins and make them dry and stringy. Heating slowly keeps the meat tender and juicy.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, butter, parsley, shallot, pepper, flour, mushroom):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Capersfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, butter, parsley, shallot, pepper, flour, mushroom. 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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