Why it works: Pepper and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 13,015 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Potted Pheasants, a LA Royale
Ingredients
Directions
Braise the pheasant
Truss the pheasant as for boiling and braise it with the ham in the wine mirepoix until done.
Drain the pheasant and ham on a dish, then strain the cooking liquid into a stewpan.
Boil the liquid down to a glaze, removing all grease.
Make the potted mixture
Chop and pound the meat from the pheasant and ham together.
Add the clarified butter, good sauce, and glaze to the meat mixture.
Season with Cayenne pepper, nutmeg, and salt, then pound thoroughly.
Rub the mixture through a fine wire sieve onto a dish.
Pot and steam
Fill small round or oval earthenware pots with the mixture and smooth the surface with a spoon dipped in water.
Place the pots in a covered stewpan and steam for about 30 minutes.
Allow the potted pheasant to cool before serving.
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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Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together13,015 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Wine + buttertop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,645 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
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Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together15,338 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Butter + nutmegtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together24,377 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Ham + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,475 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
Butter and sauce barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Pheasant
- Provides the main meat, which is cooked, pounded and bound into a smooth spreadable texture.
- Ham
- Adds savoury, salty flavour and body to the pounded meat mixture.
- Clarified butter
- Adds richness and fat, helping the pounded meat set smooth and spreadable when cooled.
- Glaze (in the method)
- Concentrated cooking liquid that adds deep savoury flavour and moisture to the mixture.
The step that matters
Removing all grease from the reduced cooking liquid. Fat left in the glaze can separate and sit on the surface or make the potted mixture greasy and unstable once cooled, so it should be skimmed thoroughly before boiling down.
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pheasant, ham, wine, butter, sauce, pepper):
- Thymefits better
- Parsleyfits better
- Tarragonfits better
- Nutmegthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pheasant, ham, wine, butter, sauce, pepper. 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.
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