Why it works: Sauce and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 22% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,934 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Ox-piths in Cases, with Fine Herbs
about a dozen casesIngredients
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
Prepare the ox-piths as directed in the previous article.
Drain the ox-piths on a napkin and cut them into 1-inch lengths.
Fill the cases
Place the cut ox-piths in a small saucepan with enough D'uxelles sauce to coat them.
Gently mix the ox-piths and sauce together.
Fill about a dozen small paper cases with the mixture.
Sprinkle the surfaces of the cases with fried bread-crumbs.
Place the filled cases on a clean baking sheet.
Bake and serve
Warm the cases in a 350 °F (175 °C) oven for about 20 minutes before serving.
Dish them up neatly in a pyramidal form and serve with fine herbs or brown Italian sauce in a separate boat.
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.
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Sauce + breadtop 22% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,934 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
- Ox-piths
- Form the tender, savoury filling that gives the cases their main body and flavour.
- D'uxelles sauce
- Coats the pieces and binds them together, keeping the filling moist during warming.
- Fried bread-crumbs
- Add a crisp, golden topping that contrasts with the soft filling and browns in the oven.
The step that matters
Warming the filled cases. Heat is needed to warm the filling through, but prolonged heat can dry the mixture and toughen the crumbs. Keeping the sauce coating thick and checking the cases near the end of the time helps the filling stay moist and the topping crisp.
“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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