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 ↓
Another Pheasant Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Boil down the half-roasted pheasants as directed in the previous recipe.
Strain and reheat the soup.
Pound the pheasant breasts to a fine paste and mix with the soaked and pressed bread.
Clean and slice the mushrooms thickly.
Stew the mushrooms in fresh butter for 10 to 15 minutes without browning.
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.
-
Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Mushroom + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,525 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
-
Mushroom + breadtop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,536 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Pheasant + mushroomtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together145 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
-
Pheasant + breadtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together239 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Pheasants
- Provide the main meat and flavour of the soup stock.
- Bread
- Soaked and pressed, it thickens the pounded pheasant breast into a smooth body.
- Mushrooms
- Add earthy flavour and a tender texture when stewed in butter.
- Butter
- Carries flavour and enriches the mushrooms as they stew gently.
The step that matters
Stew the mushrooms without browning. Browning gives a different, toasted flavour and colour; gentle stewing in butter keeps the mushrooms pale and tender and their flavour clean.
“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.
You might also like
The free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.
Brown Bread461 recipes
White Bread80 recipes
Bread Omelette60 recipes
Mushroom Soup60 recipes