Why it works: Pheasant and quail share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 48 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓
Salmis of Game
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the game
Remove the skin, head, feet, pinions, and neck from the cold roasted game.
Leave smaller birds whole, halve medium-sized birds, and cut larger birds into pieces.
Cook and serve
Place the game in a stewpan with lemon juice, gravy, wine, salt, spices, shallot, and lemon rind.
Cook quickly for 8 to 10 minutes.
Serve arranged around the dish with toast sippets, pouring the sauce in the center.
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.
-
Pheasant + quailtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together48 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
-
Lemon + shallottop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,523 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
-
Pheasant + shallottop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together89 recipes
Shared aroma: geraniol (rose, geranium).
-
Quail + shallottop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together38 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).
-
Lemon + winetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,157 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cold roasted game
- Provides the main meat, already cooked, so the stew only needs gentle reheating.
- Wine
- Adds acidity and aroma that brighten the rich, savoury sauce.
- Gravy
- Adds meaty depth and body to the sauce.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that sharpens the flavour of the sauce.
- Shallot
- Adds a mild aromatic sweetness that softens as it cooks.
The step that matters
Cook quickly for 8 to 10 minutes. The game is already cooked, so brief heating only warms it through. Longer simmering toughens the meat and can make the sauce reduce too far and taste harsh.
“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 Sauce236 recipes
Pheasant Soup25 recipes
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 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.