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Stewed Pheasants, with Rice

A stew of pheasants simmered with ham, onions, herbs, and butter, served with rice.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and rice are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,433 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Stewed Pheasants, with Rice

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Singe and draw the pheasants.

  2. Cut them into neat joints.

Make the stock

  1. Boil the giblets with one onion, herbs, pepper, salt, and enough water to cover.

  2. Bring to a boil and skim.

  3. Simmer gently.

Braise

  1. Melt the butter in a stewpan.

  2. Add the pheasant pieces, the sliced onion, and the diced ham.

  3. Season with pepper and salt.

  4. Cover tightly and cook gently in their own juices, turning the pieces two or three times, for about 45 minutes.

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. Onion + ricetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,433 recipes

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

  2. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Pepper + ricetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,379 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  4. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Pheasant + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together225 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).

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

Pheasants
Provide the meat that becomes tender during the slow, covered cooking.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, helping the meat brown lightly and carry flavour.
Lean ham
Adds salty, savoury flavour that seasons the juices as the stew cooks.
Onions
Add sweetness and aroma as they soften in the butter and juices.
Flour
Thickens the cooking liquid into a richer, more cohesive sauce.

The step that matters

Cook gently in a covered pan. Gentle, covered heat lets the pheasant cook in its own juices and turn tender. Fast boiling toughens muscle fibres and dries the meat, so keep the heat low and the lid tight.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pheasant, ham, butter, pepper, flour, rice):

  1. Leekfits better
  2. Shallotfits better
  3. Asparagusfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pheasant, ham, butter, pepper, flour, rice. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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