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Broiled Quail

Broiled quail served on buttered toast and garnished with currant jelly.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Broiled Quail

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the quail

  1. Dress the quail carefully.

  2. Soak them in salt water for a short time.

  3. Split the quail down the back.

  4. Dry them with a cloth.

  5. Rub the quail with butter.

Grill

  1. Place them on a grill over a clear fire.

  2. Turn the quail frequently.

  3. Dip them in melted butter.

  4. Season with coarse sea salt.

Serve

  1. Prepare 4 slices of buttered toast on hot dishes.

  2. Place each quail, breast side up, on a slice of toast.

  3. Garnish with 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. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).

  4. Bread + curranttop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,398 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  5. Quail + breadtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together151 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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; split and grilled so it cooks through and browns on the surface.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture, and helps the skin brown during grilling.
Bread
Serves as a buttered base that soaks up juices under each quail.
Currant jelly
Adds sweetness and tartness that contrast with the rich, savory meat.

The step that matters

Turning the quail frequently over the fire. Frequent turning lets heat reach the meat evenly, so the quail cooks through without the outside scorching before the inside is done.

Swap the currant

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

  1. Figfits better
  2. Grapefits better
  3. Applefits better
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against quail, butter, bread. 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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