Skip to main content
Main

Chartreuse of Partridges

A stew of partridges with carrots, turnips, cabbage, peas, beans, onions, butter, and gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Carrot and turnip match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,002 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Chartreuse of Partridges

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the vegetables

  1. Butter the inside of a large oblong mold.

  2. Boil carrots and turnips in broth until cooked, then drain.

  3. Boil Savoy cabbage in water until cooked, then drain and squeeze out moisture.

  4. Cut the carrots and turnips into strips and shapes, and arrange them at the bottom of the mold.

Build the mold

  1. Line the sides of the mold with sliced carrots and turnips.

  2. Press a layer of cabbage tightly against the sides.

  3. Stew the quartered partridges in well-seasoned gravy until tender.

  4. Place the stewed partridges in the center of the mold, then add the more delicate vegetables around them.

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. Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,002 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Turnip + cabbagetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together897 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Turnip + oniontop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,585 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

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

  5. Carrot + cabbagetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,505 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Partridges
Provide the main meat, which becomes tender through slow stewing in gravy.
Savoy cabbage
Forms a tight layer against the mold sides, holding its shape once moisture is squeezed out.
Carrots
Add sweetness and color, and are cut into shapes that line the mold.
Turnips
Add mild sweetness and firm texture, cut into strips and shapes for the mold.
Green peas
Add a delicate, sweet flavor and bright color around the partridges.
Kidney beans
Add body and a firm, starchy texture to the filling.

The step that matters

Squeezing the cabbage. Cabbage holds a lot of water. If it is not well drained, extra moisture will soften the layer and can make the molded shape collapse when turned out.

Swap the kidney beans

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (carrot, turnip, cabbage, peas, onion, butter):

  1. Beansfits better
  2. Lentilsfits better
  3. Chestnutfits better
  4. Kidney beansthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against carrot, turnip, cabbage, peas, onion, butter. 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.

You might also like

Green PeasGreen Peas229 recipesCarrot SoupCarrot Soup134 recipesRed CabbageRed Cabbage65 recipesStewed CabbageStewed Cabbage58 recipes