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Becasse Rotie II

Roasted small birds, such as woodcock, tied with pork and buttered toast, served with cresses garnish.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Pork and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 13,933 recipes. Both carry 2-furfurylthiol, which smells coffee, roasted. The science ↓

Becasse Rotie II

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the birds

  1. Pluck and skin the neck and head of the birds.

  2. Truss the birds with the head under the wing.

  3. Bend the legs back at the first joint, pressing the feet against the thigh without drawing them.

  4. Tie a strip of pork around each bird.

Roast

  1. Run a small iron skewer through the birds and tie it to the spit, or place them in a roasting pan in the oven.

  2. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

  3. Place the roasting pan with slices of buttered toast beneath to catch drippings.

  4. Baste the birds with melted butter.

  5. Roast for 12 to 15 minutes.

Serve

  1. Sprinkle the birds with salt and pepper, and serve on the toast.

  2. Garnish with cresses and serve with a salad.

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. Pork + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,933 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

  2. Pork + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,121 recipes

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

  3. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

What each ingredient does

Woodcock
Small birds that form the main dish, cooked whole so the meat stays moist and tender.
Pork strips
Wrapped around the birds, they add fat and savoury flavour that bastes the lean meat as it roasts.
Butter
Melted butter basted over the birds adds richness and helps the skin brown.
Buttered toast
Set beneath the birds to catch drippings, so the toast soaks up juices and gains flavour.

The step that matters

Roast for 12 to 15 minutes. Small birds cook quickly, and overcooking dries the lean meat. Checking early keeps them juicy while the skin still browns and the pork fat bastes them.

“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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