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Broiled Partridge

A partridge cut into halves, seasoned, browned in butter, topped with breadcrumbs, and broiled until golden.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and shallot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,737 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Broiled Partridge

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Pick and clean the partridge, then cut it in half, leaving the legs on and cutting off the toes.

  2. Press the leg towards the wing to shape the bird like a neat cutlet.

Cook

  1. Season with salt and pepper, then sprinkle with chopped parsley, mushrooms, and shallot.

  2. Melt the butter in a pan and add the partridge, cooking until browned.

  3. Sprinkle breadcrumbs over the top and broil until golden.

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 + shallottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,737 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

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

  3. Mushroom + shallottop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,982 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Mushroom + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  5. Mushroom + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,580 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Partridge
Forms the main body of the dish, cooked by browning and broiling.
Butter
Carries heat into the bird and promotes browning in the pan.
Breadcrumbs
Form a crisp, golden crust under the broiler.
Mushrooms
Add moisture and savoury flavour as they cook over the bird.
Shallot
Adds a mild onion-like aroma that mellows during cooking.

The step that matters

Broil until golden. Breadcrumbs brown quickly under a broiler and can scorch before the partridge is cooked through. Watch closely and keep the bird a short distance from the heat so the crust turns golden rather than burnt.

Swap the shallot

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

  1. Shallotthe original
  2. Carrotfits about as well
  3. Capsicumfits less well
  4. Spinachfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against parsley, mushroom, butter, 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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