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Salmis of Pheasants, a LA Paysanne

A pheasant stew served with toasted croutons, shallots, mushrooms, and a wine‑based sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Salmis of Pheasants, a LA Paysanne

Ingredients

Directions

Roast

  1. Roast the pheasants with the croutons of toast placed underneath.

  2. Cut the pheasants into small joints and serve immediately.

Make the sauce

  1. Combine shallots, parsley, mushrooms, oil, thyme, bay leaf, and Cayenne pepper in a stewpan.

  2. Fry the mixture over moderate heat for 5 minutes.

  3. Add white wine, glaze, and consommé; boil until reduced by half.

Finish and serve

  1. Stir in lemon juice and pour the sauce over the pheasant before serving.

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 + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Thyme + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,973 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Shallot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,737 recipes

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

  5. Shallot + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,476 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Pheasants
The main meat, roasted so its surface browns and its flavour develops.
White wine
Adds acidity and aroma, and its flavour concentrates as it reduces.
Consommé
Supplies the savoury liquid body that becomes the sauce as it reduces.
Mushrooms
Release moisture while frying and add savoury, earthy depth to the sauce.
Toast
Croutons placed underneath soak up juices and give a crisp, absorbent base.

The step that matters

Boil the sauce until reduced by half. Reduction concentrates flavour and thickens the liquid through evaporation and body. Boiling too hard or too long can over-thicken it or make it overly salty, so watch it closely.

“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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