Why it works: Squab and pork work together. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 26 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓
Squabs on Toast
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a very hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Prepare the squabs like fowl, leaving the feet on.
Place a small lump of butter, seasoned with salt and pepper, inside each squab and truss them.
Roast
Arrange the squabs in a pan on slices of salt pork, placing another thin slice on each breast.
Roast in a very hot oven at 400°F (200°C) for 20 to 25 minutes.
Serve
Serve the squabs on toast or slices of fried hominy.
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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Squab + porktop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together26 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Butter + porktop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,933 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
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Pepper + porktop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,121 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Squab + buttertop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together48 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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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
- Squabs
- Provide the main meat, which cooks quickly and stays tender in a very hot oven.
- Butter
- Adds richness and moisture, basting the birds from inside as they roast.
- Salt pork
- Its fat bastes the squabs from below and flavours the pan drippings.
The step that matters
Roast in a very hot oven. Squab is a small, lean-to-moderate bird that can dry out if overcooked. A very hot oven cooks it quickly, browning the skin while keeping the meat juicy, so timing needs watching.
“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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