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 the partridges
Fillet the partridges, leaving the pinion bones on the fillets, and trim them neatly.
Lard the fillets and place them in a sauté pan lined with bacon.
Braise and glaze
Moisten with white wine mirepoix and cover with a round of paper.
Braise over moderate heat or in the oven until nearly done, then glaze nicely.
Plate and serve
Dish the fillets in a circle with a decorated minion fillet between each.
Fill the center with a ragout of crayfish tails tossed in partridge glaze and lobster coral.
Pour Allemande sauce mixed with fumet of partridges around the dish and serve.
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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Lobster + saucetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,095 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Crayfish + lobstertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together100 recipes
Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).
-
Crayfish + saucetop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together195 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
White wine + crayfishtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together85 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
-
White wine + saucetop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked 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
- Provide the lean meat that forms the main body of the dish.
- Fat bacon
- Lines the pan and bastes the lean partridge meat, keeping it moist during braising.
- White wine mirepoix
- Moistens the braise, adding aromatic flavour and steam to tenderise the meat.
- Crayfish tails
- Add tender, sweet shellfish texture to the central ragout.
- Lobster coral
- Adds colour and a rich, briny flavour to the crayfish ragout.
- Allemande sauce
- Provides a creamy, velvety sauce that adds richness and moisture to the plate.
The step that matters
Braise until nearly done, then glaze. Partridge is very lean and dries out quickly, so it must be cooked gently with fat and moisture. Pulling it when nearly done lets residual heat finish cooking without toughening the meat.
“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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