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Partridge, Roasted

Roasted partridge served with bacon, gravy, breadcrumbs, bread sauce, 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, Roasted

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderately hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

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

  2. Cover the breast with a slice of bacon.

Roast and serve

  1. Roast in front of a clear fire for about 30 minutes, basting frequently with hot butter.

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

  3. Serve 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 main meat, which is roasted whole and carved for serving.
Butter
Basting fat that moistens the bird and promotes even golden browning.
Bacon
Covers the breast to add savory fat that bastes the lean meat while roasting.
Flour (in the method)
Dusted lightly on the bird to help form a pale brown surface when basted.

The step that matters

Removing the bacon and basting for colour. Bacon fat that has rendered over the breast can brown unevenly if left too long. Removing it a few minutes before serving and basting with butter helps the surface reach an even, pale golden colour without scorching.

“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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