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 Snipes
Ingredients
Directions
Pluck the feathers gently from the birds without drawing them.
Wipe the birds with a cloth and truss them with the head under the wing.
Skewer the legs and tie them with twine.
Suspend the birds feet downwards and baste them with melted butter.
Toast thick rounds of bread until golden brown and butter them.
Place the toasted bread in a pan to catch the drippings.
Continue basting the birds, allowing the butter to collect in the basting spoon.
Roast the woodcocks for 20 to 25 minutes, or snipe for 15 to 20 minutes.
Once done, place the birds on the toasted bread, pour gravy around, and serve.
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).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
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