Skip to main content
Main

Partridges, a LA Seville

Partridges cooked with ham, onions, carrots, herbs, Madeira, and tomato, simmered for 45 minutes.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

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 the partridges 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.

  5. Fry the carrot with the onions until light brown.

Braise

  1. Combine the partridges, ham, carrot, and onions in a stewpan.

  2. Add the faggot of herbs.

  3. Season with salt and Cayenne pepper.

  4. Moisten with Madeira and tomato.

  5. Cover the stewpan.

  6. Simmer 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 substance of the dish, becoming tender as they simmer slowly in liquid.
Butter
Browns the partridges and carrots, adding richness and a golden surface flavor.
Raw ham
Adds savory, salty flavor that seasons the braising liquid and the dish.
Madeira or malaga
Provides moisture and sweetness, and its flavor deepens as it reduces during simmering.
Carrot
Contributes natural sweetness and a tender texture after gentle simmering.
Button onions
Add sweetness and soften during frying, lending body to the braise.

The step that matters

Frying the partridges in butter. Browning meat before braising builds deeper flavor through the Maillard reaction, which needs dry, hot surfaces. Overcrowding or steaming the birds pale them and weakens the final flavor.

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.

You might also like

Tomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipesCarrot SoupCarrot Soup134 recipesCream of Tomato SoupCream of Tomato Soup107 recipesTomato BisqueTomato Bisque61 recipes