Why it works: Lemon and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Pheasants, a LA Dauphinoise
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the pheasants as for boiling and braise them in a wine mirepoix.
Once cooked, remove the strings and let them cool slightly.
Cover the pheasants with reduced Allemande sauce mixed with half the mirepoix.
Allow the sauce to cool, then coat the pheasants with bread crumbs mixed with grated Parmesan cheese.
Place the pheasants in a buttered deep sauté pan or pie dish, adding the remaining mirepoix to moisten the bottom.
Before serving, sprinkle with clarified butter and bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven, basting frequently until golden brown.
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.
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Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together27,047 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
-
Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
White wine + parmesan cheesetop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together697 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
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White wine + buttertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,083 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Butter + parmesan cheesetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,163 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pheasant, white wine, pepper, butter, parmesan cheese, bread, potato):
- Lemonthe original
- Plumfits about as well
- Grapefits about as well
- Applefits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against pheasant, white wine, pepper, butter, parmesan cheese, bread, potato. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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