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Partridges Aux Choux

Partridges cooked with bacon, sausages, cabbage, herbs, and broth.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Partridges Aux Choux

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Clean and truss the partridges as directed.

  2. Place the partridges, bacon, sausages, carrot, onion, herbs, salt, and pepper in a saucepan.

  3. Cover the partridges with slices of salt pork.

  4. Scald the cabbage in boiling water for 15 minutes.

  5. Briefly place the cabbage in cold water and drain well.

  6. Lay the cabbage on top of the partridges and cover again with strips of salt pork.

  7. Pour enough broth or consommé to cover everything.

Cook

  1. Simmer gently for 2 hours, covered.

Serve

  1. Remove the cabbage and drain it, then place it in a hot dish.

  2. Arrange the partridges on top of the cabbage, with sausages and bacon around them.

  3. Boil down the gravy briskly for a few minutes.

  4. Strain some gravy over the partridges.

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 + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,053 recipes

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

  3. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  4. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  5. Clove + thymetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,108 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

What each ingredient does

Partridges
Provide the main meat, which becomes tender during the long gentle simmer.
Cabbage
Absorbs the flavour of the braising liquid and forms a soft base for the birds.
Bacon
Adds fat and smoky savour that seasons the broth and the birds.
Smoked sausages
Contribute smoky, savoury flavour to the broth and the serving dish.
Consommé or broth
Forms the moist cooking liquid that tenderises the birds and cabbage.

The step that matters

Simmer gently, not at a rapid boil. A gentle simmer keeps the partridge meat tender and the broth clear. Vigorous boiling toughens muscle fibres and makes the liquid cloudy.

Swap the cabbage

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, carrot, onion, clove, parsley, thyme, garlic):

  1. Parsnipfits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Turnipfits better
  4. Cabbagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, carrot, onion, clove, parsley, thyme, garlic. 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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