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Scollops of Partridges, in Cases

Partridges filleted into scallops, sautéed with seasonings and sauce, then baked in oiled paper cases topped with bacon.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Scollops of Partridges, in Cases

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 scallops

  1. Fillet the partridges and cut the fillets into small scallops.

  2. Melt the butter in a large sauté pan and add the scallops.

  3. Season the scallops with mignonette pepper, coarse sea salt, nutmeg, chopped mushrooms, chopped parsley, and chopped shallots.

  4. Simmer the scallops briskly over medium heat.

  5. Add the Espagnole sauce, fumet, and lemon juice; toss together for a few minutes.

Fill and bake

  1. Fill the oiled paper cases with the mixture and place them on a baking sheet.

  2. Top each case with a thin circular layer of fat bacon.

  3. Warm the cases in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 20 minutes before serving.

  4. Serve with a little of the same sauce poured over each case.

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 + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

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

  2. Parsley + shallottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,737 recipes

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

  3. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  4. Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Nutmeg + parsleytop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,062 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
Provide the meat that forms the scallops and the body of the filling.
Fresh butter
Adds richness and fat for cooking the scallops in the pan.
Espagnole sauce
Adds body and savoury depth that moistens the filling.
Fumet
Adds concentrated meaty flavour and moisture to the mixture.
Shallots
Add a mild aromatic onion flavour to the filling.

The step that matters

Simmer the scallops briskly over medium heat. Brisk heat browns the surface and drives off excess moisture so the filling does not turn watery and steam in the paper cases. Keeping the pan moving prevents sticking and uneven cooking.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, pepper, mushroom, parsley, shallot, sauce, lemon):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Capersfits better
  4. Nutmegthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, pepper, mushroom, parsley, shallot, sauce, lemon. 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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