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Grouse, Roast

Roast grouse served with toast, bacon, gravy, bread sauce, and fried breadcrumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 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 ↓

Grouse, Roast

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the birds

  1. Hang the birds in a cool, dry place for 3 to 4 days.

  2. Pluck the grouse.

  3. Draw the grouse.

  4. Truss the grouse like roast chicken.

  5. Tie a slice of bacon over each breast.

Roast

  1. Roast in a 350°F (175°C) oven for about 1 hour, basting frequently with hot fat.

  2. Remove the bacon when nearly done.

  3. Dredge the bacon with flour and baste well for a nice brown appearance.

  4. Toast the bread lightly.

  5. Place the toasted bread in the dripping-tin to catch the gravy.

Serve

  1. Dish the grouse on the toast.

  2. Serve the gravy, bread sauce, and breadcrumbs separately.

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Bread + saucetop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,934 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

Grouse
Forms the main meat, which stays moist and tender when basted with hot fat.
Bacon
Covers the breast, protecting lean meat from drying and adding savoury fat as it renders.
Butter or good dripping
Carries heat for basting, helping the bird brown and develop a crisp, golden skin.
Toast
Soaks up juices from the roasting tin, giving a moist base under the birds.
Flour (in the method)
Dusted on the bacon, it helps the surface brown well for a richer appearance.

The step that matters

Basting the birds frequently with hot fat. Lean game dries out easily in the oven. Regular basting with hot fat keeps the surface moist and encourages even browning, so the meat stays juicy.

“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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