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Salmi of Grouse a LA Parisienne

Roasted grouse served with a sauce of butter, vegetables, sherry, mushroom liquor, and truffles.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 18 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,973 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Salmi of Grouse a LA Parisienne

Oven, in the book's wordsA brisk oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare the grouse

  1. Singe, draw, wipe, and truss the grouse. Season with a pinch of salt and spread small bits of butter on them.

  2. Place the grouse in a toasting pan and cook in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 8 minutes.

  3. Untruss and cut away the wings, legs, and breasts.

Make the sauce

  1. In a saucepan, melt 1 ounce of butter and add the carrot, onion, thyme, bay leaves, and peppercorns. Cook until golden, about 5 minutes.

  2. Hash the bodies of the grouse and add to the saucepan.

  3. Moisten with 1 pint of sauce, ½ cup sherry, ½ cup mushroom liquor, and lemon zest. Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Cook for 20 minutes.

Finish and serve

  1. In a separate saucepan, place the wings, legs, and breasts. Strain the sauce over them, adding the minced mushrooms and truffles.

  2. Cook for 3 minutes, then serve on a hot dish with crusts on top and paper ruffles.

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. Thyme + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,973 recipes

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

  2. Carrot + thymetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Thyme + mushroomtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,557 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  4. Sherry + mushroomtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,176 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol (smoky, clove).

  5. Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Grouse
Provides the main meat, which is cooked briefly and then finished gently in the sauce.
Butter
Adds richness and carries flavor as it melts and browns the vegetables.
Sherry
Adds acidity and depth to the sauce as it simmers.
Mushroom liquor
Adds earthy savory flavor and moisture to the sauce.
Truffles
Adds a strong aroma and earthy flavor to the finished sauce.

The step that matters

Strain the sauce over the wings, legs, and breasts. Those pieces are added to the strained sauce and only need a few minutes of gentle heat, so overcooking them can make the meat dry and tough.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, carrot, onion, thyme, sauce, sherry, mushroom):

  1. Plumfits about as well
  2. Cherryfits about as well
  3. Lemonthe original
  4. Avocadofits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, carrot, onion, thyme, sauce, sherry, mushroom. 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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