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 ↓
To Roast Grouse
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Pluck the feathers from the grouse gently and remove them.
Wipe the insides with clean, damp cloths or wash and dry them well.
Truss the grouse as you would black game.
Roast and serve
Roast the grouse for about 30 minutes over a clear, brisk fire, basting frequently.
Serve on buttered toast that has been in the pan for 10 minutes, or with gravy and bread sauce.
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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Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Grouse
- Provides the main meat, which cooks quickly and stays moist when roasted briefly over high heat.
- Butter
- Carries flavour and browns during roasting, and enriches the toast it is served on.
The step that matters
Roast the grouse for about 30 minutes, basting frequently. Lean game birds dry out easily. Frequent basting with fat keeps the surface moist and helps it brown evenly over the brisk heat.
“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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