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Silvy's Broiled Quail

Broiled quail served on toast with broiled bacon or currant jelly garnish.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Olive and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 30,263 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Silvy's Broiled Quail

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Singe and wipe the quail carefully.

  2. Divide each quail down the back.

  3. Brush the quail with olive oil and lightly dust with salt and pepper.

Cook and serve

  1. Broil the quail over a charcoal fire, basting with melted butter, salt, and pepper as they cook.

  2. Serve the quail on toast and garnish with slices of broiled bacon or currant jelly.

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. Olive + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30,263 recipes

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

  2. Olive + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,887 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  3. Quail + olivetop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Quail + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together512 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Butter + curranttop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,856 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).

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

What each ingredient does

Quail
Forms the main protein, cooking quickly to tender, juicy meat over direct heat.
Melted butter
Adds richness and moisture while basting, and helps the skin brown.
Olive oil
Coats the surface so seasoning adheres and the skin browns evenly under heat.

The step that matters

Broil the quail over a charcoal fire. Quail is small and lean, so it can dry out or scorch quickly. Keeping the heat steady and basting with butter helps the meat stay moist while the skin browns.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (quail, olive, pepper, butter):

  1. Lemonfits better
  2. Grapefits better
  3. Avocadofits better
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against quail, olive, pepper, butter. 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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