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Bruant a LA Lucullus--reed Birds, Lucullus Fashion

A dish of reedbirds stuffed with truffles, baked in Madeira wine and served with a brown sauce reduction.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Truffle and madeira wine work together. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 195 recipes. The science ↓

Bruant a LA Lucullus--reed Birds, Lucullus Fashion

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Prepare the reedbirds as explained for Yol au Yent a la Banquière.

  2. Scoop out large truffles with a vegetable spoon.

  3. Stuff each truffle with a prepared reedbird.

Cook

  1. Place the truffles in a saucepan and moisten with Madeira.

  2. Cook in a slow oven at 300°F (150°C) for 25 to 30 minutes.

Serve

  1. Dress the reedbirds on a serving dish.

  2. Reduce the remaining Madeira with brown sauce until thick, strain, and pour over the birds.

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. Truffle + madeira winetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together195 recipes
  2. Madeira wine + saucetop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together230 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Truffle + saucetop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,490 recipes

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

What each ingredient does

Reedbirds
Are the main filling, so they supply the dish's central flavour and meat.
Large truffles
Hollowed out to hold the birds, adding a strong earthy aroma as they cook.
Madeira wine
Moistens the truffles while they cook and, reduced, forms a sweet, rich sauce.
Brown sauce
Thickens the reduced Madeira into a glossy sauce that coats the birds.

“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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