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Broiled Partridge

Broiled partridge seasoned with salt, pepper, clarified butter, and bread crumbs, served with brown mushroom sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 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 ↓

Broiled Partridge

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Prepare the partridge by dividing and flattening it.

  2. Season the bird with coarse sea salt and black or cayenne pepper.

Coat

  1. Dip the partridge in clarified butter, then coat it with very fine bread crumbs, ensuring even coverage.

  2. For a better appearance, dip it a second time in butter and crumbs.

Broil and serve

  1. Broil the partridge over a clear fire for 20 to 30 minutes.

  2. Serve with brown mushroom sauce.

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 + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

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

  3. Bread + mushroomtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,536 recipes

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

  4. Pepper + mushroomtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,580 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

Partridge
Is the main protein, cooked whole after being flattened so it cooks evenly.
Clarified butter
Carries the bread crumbs and adds fat that helps the coating brown during broiling.
Very fine bread crumbs
Form a crisp, golden crust that protects the meat from drying in the heat.

The step that matters

Broil over a clear fire. Crumbs and butter brown quickly, so the heat must be steady and not too fierce. Too hot a fire can scorch the coating before the bird cooks through, while too gentle a heat leaves it pale and dry.

“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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