Name: Clear Partridge Soup
Ingredients: 3 partridges; soup meat; water; ½ glass Madeira; 1 pinch sugar; a few drops chili vinegar

Why it works: Sugar and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 20,806 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Clear Partridge Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Pluck and draw the partridges, then cut them up and break all bones with a mallet.
Prepare the soup meat for consomme as usual to create a strong stock.
Strain the stock and let it cool, removing any fat that rises to the surface.
Pour the clear stock into a large saucepan and add the partridge pieces and livers.
Bring to a slow boil, skimming carefully, then reduce heat and simmer for at least an hour.
Strain the soup from the bones, clarify it, and add Madeira, sugar, and chili vinegar to finish.

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.

Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,806 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Meat + vinegartop 31% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,428 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-methylbutanol (malty, whiskey).
Meat + sugartop 34% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,866 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).