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Partridges, Hashed

A baked hash of partridges with brown sauce, cabbage, and sausage.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Cabbage and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,081 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Partridges, Hashed

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Cook the partridges

  1. Cook the whole partridges in the oven at 400°F (200°C) for about 1 hour.

Make the sauce

  1. Strain the stock and return it to the braising pan with the brown sauce.

  2. Bring to a boil and skim off any impurities.

Finish and serve

  1. Add the partridges, cabbage, and sausage to the pan.

  2. Cover the pan and cook gently for another 10 minutes.

  3. Serve hot.

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. Cabbage + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,081 recipes

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

  2. Sauce + peppertop 27% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together15,303 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Sauce + cabbagetop 29% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together437 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Sauce and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,303 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

Partridges
Provide the main meat, which becomes tender and flavourful during slow cooking.
Brown sauce
Adds savoury depth and rich colour to the liquid the dish cooks in.
Cabbage
Adds bulk and a mild sweetness as it softens in the pan.
Sausage
Adds fat and savoury flavour that seasons the sauce as it cooks.

The step that matters

Skimming the boiling liquid. Impurities that rise to the surface can cloud the sauce and taste bitter, so removing them keeps the sauce clear and clean-flavoured.

Swap the cabbage

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sauce, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Tomatofits better
  3. Mustardfits better
  4. Cabbagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sauce, 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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