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Broiled Birds

Broiled Birds are small birds buttered, seasoned, and broiled, served on buttered toast.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 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 Birds

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Carefully clean and wipe dry the small birds.

  2. Rub a little warm butter over each bird.

Broil and serve

  1. Broil the birds over a bright fire, turning frequently.

  2. Season with butter, coarse sea salt, and black pepper.

  3. Serve on thin slices of slightly buttered toast.

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. Pepper + breadtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,964 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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

Small birds
Form the main substance of the dish, cooked whole over direct heat.
Warm butter
Adds richness and moisture to the birds and helps them brown lightly.
Slices of bread
Serve as toast beneath the birds, soaking up juices and adding a crisp base.

The step that matters

Turning the birds over a bright fire. Frequent turning exposes every side to direct heat, so the birds cook evenly and brown without scorching in one spot or staying raw inside.

“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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