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Roast Pheasant

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Pheasant and bread work together. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 239 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓

Roast Pheasant

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

  1. Draw the pheasant by making a small opening at the vent and removing the pouch.

  2. Singe the body and legs over a flame or with a piece of paper.

  3. Rub off the scaly skin from the legs with a cloth and trim the claws and spurs.

  4. Cut off the neck close to the back, leaving the breast skin intact.

  5. Wipe the pheasant clean and truss it by running a needle and string through the left wing.

  6. Turn the bird over, hold the legs erect, and pass the needle through the middle joint of both thighs.

  7. Pass the needle through the other wing and tie the strings at the back.

  8. Pass the needle through the hollow of the back, below the thighs, and tie tightly to plump the bird.

  9. Spit and roast the pheasant before a brisk fire for about 30 minutes, basting frequently.

  10. Serve with brown gravy underneath and bread sauce separately.

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. Pheasant + breadtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together239 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  2. Pheasant + saucetop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together290 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanoic acid (soapy, waxy).

  3. Bread + saucetop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,934 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

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