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Larded Grouse

A roasted grouse seasoned with butter, salt, and flour, served with bread sauce and fried breadcrumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Larded Grouse

Oven, in the book's wordsA brisk oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a brisk oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Clean and wash the grouse, then lard the breast and legs.

  2. Skewer the legs and tail, then rub warmed butter over the breast.

  3. Dredge the breast with salt and flour.

Roast and serve

  1. Place the grouse in a baking dish and cook in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 20 to 30 minutes.

  2. Cover a hot dish with bread sauce.

  3. Place the grouse on top, and sprinkle with fried breadcrumbs.

  4. Garnish with parsley 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. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Flour + parsleytop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together16,675 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together15,338 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Butter + parsleytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together28,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

Grouse
Is the main protein, whose lean breast is protected by larding and butter during roasting.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, carrying flavour and helping the breast stay moist and browned.
Flour
Dries the surface of the breast so it browns well and the salt adheres.
Bread sauce
Provides a soft, moist base that the roasted grouse sits on.

The step that matters

Roast the grouse at high heat for the stated time. Lean game birds dry out quickly, and overcooking toughens the meat. Timing at a hot oven keeps the breast juicy while the surface browns, so check doneness early in the range.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, bread, sauce):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Nutmegfits about as well
  3. Parsleythe original
  4. Jalapenofits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, bread, sauce. 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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