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Partridge Soup

A roasted partridge served hot with gravy and bread sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,078 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Partridge Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Truss the partridges with or without the head, leaving enough skin on the neck to skewer it back.

  2. Pluck, draw, and wipe the partridges inside and out.

  3. Bring the legs close to the breast and skewer through the pinions and thighs.

Roast and serve

  1. Roast the trussed partridges before a bright fire, basting well.

  2. A few minutes before serving, flour and froth the partridges.

  3. Serve hot with gravy poured over the bird and alongside bread sauce.

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. Flour + saucetop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,078 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Bread + saucetop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,934 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Flour + breadtop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together10,383 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and bread barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 10,383 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Partridges
Form the main body of the dish, cooked whole and trussed for even roasting.
Flour
Dusted over the birds near the end to help form a crisp, browned surface.
Gravy
Adds moisture and savoury richness when poured over the roasted birds.

The step that matters

Basting the partridges while they roast. Lean game birds dry out easily, and regular basting spreads fat and juices over the skin, keeping the meat moist and helping the skin brown.

“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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