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Partridges, a LA Seville

A stew of partridges cooked with ham, onions, carrots, herbs, Madeira or Malaga, and tomato.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and thyme 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, a LA Seville

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Truss the partridges as for boiling.

  2. Fry them in butter until light brown, then set aside on a plate.

  3. Cut the ham into small olive-shaped pieces.

  4. Cut the carrot into small rounds and prepare the button onions.

  5. Fry the ham, carrot, and onions until light brown.

Braise

  1. Combine the fried ingredients with the partridges in a stewpan.

  2. Add the faggot of parsley, thyme, bay leaf, sweet basil, and garlic.

  3. Season with salt and cayenne pepper.

  4. Moisten with Madeira or Malaga and tomato.

  5. Cover and simmer gently on low heat for 45 minutes.

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. Parsley + thymetop 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. Thyme + basiltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,768 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  4. Parsley + basiltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,351 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  5. Thyme + clovetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,108 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

What each ingredient does

Partridges
Form the main protein, which becomes tender and flavourful as it simmers.
Butter
Browns the partridges and carries flavour through the frying stage.
Raw ham
Adds savoury, salty depth that seasons the braising liquid.
Madeira or malaga
Adds sweetness and aroma, and its flavour concentrates during the gentle simmer.
Button onions
Soften and sweeten as they cook, adding body to the sauce.
Carrot
Adds natural sweetness and firm texture that holds up to long simmering.

The step that matters

Frying the partridges until light brown. Browning builds deep flavour through the Maillard reaction. Pale birds give a flat, washed-out sauce, so colour them well before adding liquid.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, ham, carrot, parsley, thyme, basil, clove):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, ham, carrot, parsley, thyme, basil, clove. 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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