Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Goose Stuffed with Sauerkraut
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the goose
Draw and singe the goose.
Wipe it inside and out with a damp towel.
Fill the goose with sauerkraut and sew it up.
Tie it into shape.
Simmer and roast
Place the goose in a large kettle and cover it with boiling water.
Simmer gently for three hours.
Remove the goose and place it in a baking pan.
Baste with melted butter and dredge the breast thickly with flour.
Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven until nicely browned, about one hour.
Serve
Serve on a bed of boiled sauerkraut.
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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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Goose
- Provides the rich meat and fat that form the main body of the dish.
- Sauerkraut
- Adds moisture and a sharp acidity that balances the richness of the fatty goose.
- Melted butter
- Basting adds fat to the skin, helping it brown and stay moist.
- Flour
- Dredging the breast creates a dry coating that promotes browning and a crisp surface.
The step that matters
Simmer gently for three hours. Gentle simmering renders fat and tenderizes the meat without breaking it apart. A hard boil can toughen the meat and make the goose fall apart before roasting.
“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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