Skip to main content
Main

Scollops of Partridges, in Cases

Partridges filleted into scallops, sautéed with butter, mushrooms, truffles, and sauce, then baked in paper cases with bacon.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Parsley and shallot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,737 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Scollops of Partridges, in Cases

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.

Prepare the scallops

  1. Fillet the partridges and cut the fillets into small scallops.

  2. Melt the butter in a large sauté pan and add the scallops.

  3. Season with mignonette pepper, salt, nutmeg, mushrooms, parsley, truffles, and shallots.

  4. Simmer the scallops briskly over medium heat until cooked.

  5. Add the Eepagwle sauce, fumet, and lemon juice; toss together for a few minutes.

Fill and bake

  1. Fill the prepared paper cases with the mixture.

  2. Place a thin layer of bacon on each case.

  3. Warm the cases in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 20 minutes before serving.

  4. Serve with a little of the same sauce on top.

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. Parsley + shallottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,737 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  3. Nutmeg + parsleytop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,062 recipes

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

  4. Mushroom + shallottop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,982 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Mushroom + truffletop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,900 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Partridges
Provide the main meat for the filling, cooked tender in the sauté pan.
Butter
Adds richness and carries flavour while the scallops cook in the pan.
Shallots
Add a mild savoury sweetness and aroma to the filling as it cooks.
Fumet
Adds concentrated meaty flavour and moisture to the filling.
Fat bacon
Adds fat and savoury flavour as it warms over the filling.

The step that matters

Simmer the scallops briskly until cooked. Partridge meat is lean and cooks quickly, so overcooking dries it out and makes it tough. Stop once the pieces are just cooked through, since they will warm again in the oven.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, pepper, mushroom, parsley, truffle, shallot, sauce):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Nutmegthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, pepper, mushroom, parsley, truffle, shallot, sauce. 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.

You might also like

Lemon SauceLemon Sauce236 recipesMushroom SoupMushroom Soup60 recipesTomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipesBrown BreadBrown Bread461 recipes