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Partridges, Stewed

Partridges stewed with lemon, bacon, onions, carrots, herbs, wine, and stock, served with gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Partridges, Stewed

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Truss the partridges with a small lump of butter inside, skewering the skin of the neck over it.

  2. Place two slices of lemon on top.

Stew

  1. In a pot, add the partridges, sliced carrots, onions, thyme, parsley, bay leaves, and bacon.

  2. Pour in the white wine and stock.

  3. Season with salt and pepper.

  4. Simmer for 1 hour.

Strain and finish

  1. Strain the gravy and let it cool.

  2. Skim off any fat.

  3. Return the gravy to the pot with the partridges.

  4. Warm through by the fire.

  5. Serve when on the point of boiling.

  6. Garnish with croutons.

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. Thyme + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,053 recipes

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

  3. Lemon + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Lemon + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,973 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

What each ingredient does

Partridges
Form the main dish; their meat becomes tender through slow simmering in liquid.
White wine
Adds acidity and aroma to the stewing liquid, balancing the richness of the gravy.
Stock
Forms the liquid base of the gravy and provides moisture for the slow stew.
Fat bacon
Adds savoury fat and flavour that carries into the stewing liquid and gravy.
Onions
Release sweetness and savoury depth into the stock as they simmer.
Carrots
Add sweetness and body to the gravy as they soften in the stew.

The step that matters

Serve when on the point of boiling. Holding the gravy at a gentle heat keeps the partridge meat tender and moist, while a hard boil toughens the proteins and can make the gravy cloudy.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lemon, carrot, thyme, parsley, white wine, butter, pepper):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against lemon, carrot, thyme, parsley, white wine, butter, pepper. 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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