Why it works: Butter and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 85,593 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Broiled Squirrel
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Parboil the whole squirrel for a few minutes.
Broil
Grease a broiling iron and place it over a hot fire.
Turn the squirrel often while broiling.
Season and serve
Season the drawn butter with pepper and coarse sea salt.
Moisten the squirrel with the seasoned drawn butter before serving.
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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Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Squirrel
- Is the main protein that is cooked and served.
- Drawn butter
- Adds fat and moisture, keeping the cooked meat from drying out.
The step that matters
Turn the squirrel often while broiling. Frequent turning exposes each side to the heat evenly, so the meat cooks through without scorching on the side nearest the fire while the other side stays underdone.
“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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