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Pheasants, a LA Dauphinoise

A braised pheasant served with a sauce of reduced Allemande, Parmesan, and breadcrumbs, finished in clarified butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,173 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Pheasants, a LA Dauphinoise

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Braise the pheasants

  1. Braise the trussed pheasants in mirepoix until cooked.

  2. Remove the pheasants and draw the strings.

  3. Let them cool partially.

Coat and bake

  1. Cover the pheasants with reduced Allemande sauce mixed with half the mirepoix.

  2. Allow the sauce to cool.

  3. Coat the pheasants with a mixture of bread crumbs and grated Parmesan cheese.

  4. Place the pheasants in a buttered baking dish.

  5. Add the remaining mirepoix to the bottom.

  6. Sprinkle the pheasants with clarified butter.

  7. Bake at 350°F (175°C) until lightly browned, basting frequently.

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. Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Carrot + peppertop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,555 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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, which is braised until cooked and then baked until golden.
Allemande sauce
Forms a creamy coating that keeps the meat moist during baking.
Parmesan cheese
Adds savory flavor and helps the crumb coating brown.
Clarified butter
Adds richness and promotes even browning on the surface.

The step that matters

Baking until lightly browned while basting. Basting with butter keeps the surface from drying out while the crust browns, and the sauce coating protects the meat's moisture. Overbaking would toughen the lean pheasant meat.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pheasant, carrot, celery, sauce, parmesan cheese, butter, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Spinachfits better
  3. Tomatofits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pheasant, carrot, celery, sauce, parmesan cheese, butter, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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