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Souffle of Partridges

A savory souffle made with partridge meat, brown stock, glaze, nutmeg, and eggs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 24,744 recipes. Both carry acetic acid, which smells sour, vinegar. The science ↓

Souffle of Partridges

Ingredients

Directions

Make the gravy

  1. Warm the pounded meat in the brown stock.

  2. Strain the meat.

  3. Break the partridge bodies.

  4. Boil them down with all the bones and skin.

  5. Strain the gravy.

  6. Moisten some roux with the gravy.

  7. Reduce the mixture until half the consistency of glaze.

  8. Add the pounded meat to the reduced gravy.

Make the soufflé and bake

  1. Beat the egg yolks.

  2. Add the yolks gradually to the mixture.

  3. Beat the egg whites to a froth.

  4. Stir the froth into the mixture.

  5. Pour the mixture into a paper souffle case.

  6. Bake in the oven.

  7. Serve as soon as it rises.

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. Nutmeg + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together24,744 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  2. Meat + nutmegtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,656 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  3. Meat + eggtop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,432 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

Nutmeg and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 24,744 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

Egg whites
Beaten to a froth, they trap air that lifts the soufflé as it bakes.
Egg yolks
Enrich the base and add richness and body to the set mixture.
Roux (in the method)
Thickens the gravy so the mixture holds its structure before baking.
Pounded partridge meat
Provides the main meaty flavour and body of the soufflé.
Brown stock
Adds savoury depth and moisture to the gravy base.
Brown glaze
Concentrates savoury flavour and deepens the colour of the gravy.

The step that matters

Stir the froth into the mixture. Whipped egg whites hold air that makes the soufflé rise. Stirring too hard or too long knocks that air out, so the froth should be folded in gently and the soufflé baked promptly.

“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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