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Partridge, Roast

A roasted partridge served with bacon, gravy, bread sauce, breadcrumbs, and toast.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Bread and butter 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 ↓

Partridge, 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

  1. Pluck, draw, and truss the partridge like a roast chicken.

  2. Cover the breast with a slice of bacon.

Roast

  1. Roast in a 350°F (175°C) oven for about 30 minutes, basting frequently with hot fat.

  2. A few minutes before serving, remove the bacon, dredge lightly with flour, and baste well for a nice pale brown appearance.

Serve

  1. Serve the partridge on the toast with gravy, breadcrumbs, and bread sauce on the side.

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. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Sauce + buttertop 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).

Sauce and butter 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
Provides the lean meat that is the main focus of the dish.
Bacon
Covers the breast to add fat and flavour and keep the lean meat moist.
Butter or good fat
Used for basting, conducting heat to brown the skin and add moisture.
Flour (in the method)
Dredged lightly over the bird to help it develop a pale golden-brown surface.
Toast
Serves as a base that soaks up juices under the bird.

The step that matters

Removing the bacon and basting before serving. Timing matters here: removing the bacon too early leaves the breast dry, while leaving it on too long prevents browning. Basting with hot fat after the flour is dredged on builds a pale, even browned surface through the Maillard reaction.

“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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