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 ↓
Broiled Partridge
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Prepare the partridge by dividing and flattening it.
Season the bird with coarse sea salt and black pepper or cayenne.
Coat
Dip the partridge in clarified butter.
Coat the partridge with fine bread crumbs, ensuring even coverage.
Dip the partridge a second time in clarified butter.
Coat the partridge again with fine bread crumbs.
Broil and serve
Broil the partridge over a clear fire for 20 to 30 minutes.
Serve with brown mushroom sauce or Espagnole sauce.
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.
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Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,525 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
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Bread + mushroomtop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,536 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Pepper + mushroomtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,580 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Pepper + breadtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,964 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Partridge
- Is the main protein that is cooked through by broiling.
- Clarified butter
- Adds fat and richness and helps the bread crumbs adhere and brown.
- Fine bread crumbs
- Form a crisp, browned crust that protects the bird during broiling.
The step that matters
Broil the partridge over a clear fire for 20 to 30 minutes. Broiling needs steady, clear heat so the crumb coating browns and crisps before the lean meat dries out. Too little heat leaves the crust pale and the bird undercooked, while too much burns the crumbs before the meat is done.
“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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