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Broiled Partridges

Broiled partridges served with a butter‑flour‑milk sauce and French peas.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Broiled Partridges

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the partridges

  1. Melt the butter in a stewpan and add minced parsley.

  2. Add the partridges and cook until lightly browned.

  3. Remove the birds, roll them in seasoned breadcrumbs, and place on a grill.

  4. Broil the partridges over a clear fire.

Make the sauce

  1. In a stewpan, melt 2 oz of butter and mix in 1 teaspoon of flour.

  2. Gradually stir in 1 pint of milk and cook until boiling and thickened.

  3. Remove from heat and quickly stir in the beaten egg yolk mixed with a little water.

  4. Season the sauce with salt and pepper.

Serve

  1. Heat the French peas in boiling water, then drain and place in the center of a hot dish.

  2. Arrange the broiled partridges on top and pour the sauce around.

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 + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Parsley + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together16,675 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Parsley + peastop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,885 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

Partridges
Main protein; browning in butter and broiling give it a golden, savory crust.
Butter
Fat that browns the birds and enriches the sauce, adding flavor and smooth richness.
Breadcrumbs
Coat the birds, forming a crisp, browned crust during broiling.
Flour
Thickens the butter and milk into a smooth, stable sauce base.
Milk
Forms the body of the sauce, which thickens as it comes to a boil.
Egg yolk
Enriches and further thickens the sauce, giving it a smooth, velvety texture.

The step that matters

Adding the egg yolk off the heat. Egg yolk thickens by gentle heat and can curdle or scramble if it gets too hot. Removing the pan from heat before quickly stirring it in keeps the sauce smooth.

Swap the peas

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, parsley, pepper, flour, milk, egg):

  1. Almondfits better
  2. Walnutfits better
  3. Chickpeafits better
  4. Peasthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, parsley, pepper, flour, milk, egg. 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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