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 ↓
Stewed Woodcock
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the bird
Stuff the woodcock with a mixture of bacon, parsley, shallots, egg yolk, pepper, and salt.
Truss the bird as you would for roasting.
Stew and serve
Place the bird in a small earthenware stewpan on a thick slice of bacon.
Cover and cook for 15 minutes.
Add the white wine and cook until done.
Finish with a few drops of vinegar in the sauce and serve.
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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Parsley + shallottop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,737 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Shallot + white winetop 11% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together881 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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White wine + vinegartop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,776 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Shallot + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,898 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Woodcock
- Is the main protein, cooked whole so it stays moist in the stewpan.
- Bacon
- Adds fat and savory flavor to the stuffing and bastes the bird as it cooks.
- Egg yolk
- Binds the stuffing so it holds together inside the bird.
- White wine
- Provides acidity and liquid that forms the stewing sauce.
- Shallots
- Add a mild, sweet onion flavor to the stuffing.
The step that matters
Cover and cook for 15 minutes. Keeping the lid on traps steam so the bird cooks gently in its own moisture. Too much heat or too long a stew can dry the lean meat and toughen it.
Swap the shallot
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (parsley, egg, pepper, white wine, vinegar):
- Shallotthe original
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Carrotfits less well
- Chivefits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against parsley, egg, pepper, white wine, vinegar. 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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