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 ↓
To Roast Woodcocks or Swipes
Ingredients
Directions
Gently pluck the feathers from the birds without breaking the skin. Do not draw them.
Wipe the birds with clean, soft cloths and truss them with the head under the wing and the bill along the breast.
Skewer the thighs and tie the legs straight with twine.
Suspend the birds feet downwards on a spit, flour them well, and baste with melted butter.
Before the juices begin to drop, place a round of toasted, buttered bread in the pan to catch the drippings.
Continue basting, ensuring the butter falls into the basting spoon.
Roast the birds over a brisk fire for 20 to 25 minutes, or 15 minutes less for snipe.
Once done, place the toasted bread on a hot dish, dress the birds on top, and pour a little gravy around the bread.
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).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
You might also like
Brown Bread461 recipes
White Bread80 recipes
Bread Omelette60 recipes
Oatmeal Bread51 recipesThe 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.