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Stewed Partridge

A partridge stewed in stock, finished with egg yolk, pepper, salt, and bread crumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Beef and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,971 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Stewed Partridge

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Truss the partridge as for roasting.

  2. Place it in a stewpan with the stock or beef-tea.

Simmer

  1. Simmer gently for 45 minutes.

Brown and finish

  1. Remove the partridge and brush the breast with egg yolk.

  2. Sprinkle with pepper, salt, and bread crumbs.

  3. Brown in a Dutch oven.

  4. Thicken the gravy and serve with the bird.

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. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

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

  2. Beef + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  3. Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  4. Pepper + breadtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,964 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Beef + eggtop 31% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Partridge
The main meat, which cooks through gently during simmering and browns at the end.
Stock or beef-tea
Keeps the bird moist during simmering and forms the base of the gravy.
Egg yolk
Adds richness and helps the crumbs stick and brown evenly.
Bread crumbs
Form a crisp, golden coating as they dry and brown in the oven.

The step that matters

Simmer gently for 45 minutes. A gentle simmer cooks the partridge through while keeping the meat tender. A hard boil toughens the muscle fibres and can break the bird apart in the stock.

“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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