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Fillets of Partridges, a LA Prince Albert

A refined dish of partridge fillets served with crayfish, lobster, and a sauce of white wine, Alemande, and partridge fume.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Lobster and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,095 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Fillets of Partridges, a LA Prince Albert

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare and braise

  1. Fillet the partridges, leaving the pinion bones on the fillets.

  2. Trim the fillets neatly and lard them closely.

  3. Line a sauté pan with bacon and place the fillets inside.

  4. Moisten with white wine mirepoix and cover with a round of paper.

  5. Braise over moderate heat or in the oven until nearly done.

Glaze and serve

  1. Glaze the fillets nicely.

  2. Arrange the fillets in a circle on a plate, with a decorated minion fillet between each.

  3. Fill the center with a ragout of crayfish tails tossed in partridge glaze and lobster coral.

  4. Pour Alemande sauce mixed with fume of partridges around the dish and serve.

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. Lobster + saucetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,095 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Crayfish + lobstertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together100 recipes

    Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).

  3. Crayfish + saucetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together195 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. White wine + crayfishtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together85 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  5. White wine + saucetop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together819 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Partridges
Lean game meat forms the main structure and flavour of the dish.
Fat bacon
Lines the pan and bastes the lean fillets, adding moisture and savoury flavour during braising.
Lobster coral
Adds rich colour and a concentrated shellfish flavour to the ragout.
Alemande sauce
Provides a smooth, rich sauce that adds moisture and body around the lean fillets.

The step that matters

Braise until nearly done. Partridge is very lean, so overcooking dries out the fillets and toughens the meat. Stop before fully cooked, since the fillets keep cooking while they rest and are glazed.

“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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