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Small ‘croustades’

Small pastry turnovers filled with partridge puree and topped with truffle.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Bread and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 22,662 recipes. Both carry (e)-2-octenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Small ‘croustades’

twelve croustades

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the croustades

  1. Cut twelve small croustades from rice thickness.

  2. Roll them in fresh bread-crumbs.

  3. Dip in beaten eggs, then breadcrumb again.

  4. Stand them upright and cut the top with a plain cutter.

  5. Fry in hot oil until golden, then drain.

  6. Remove the cover and empty, leaving ⅓ inch thickness.

Fill and finish

  1. Fill with partridge puree.

  2. Pour melted glaze over the puree.

  3. Top each with a slice of cooked truffle.

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. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  2. Bread + truffletop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together531 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Egg + truffletop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,604 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-octenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Beaten eggs bind the breadcrumb coating so it adheres and browns when fried.
Fresh bread-crumbs
Form a crisp, golden outer crust when fried.
Partridge puree
Provides the rich, savoury filling that moistens the hollowed shell.
Cooked truffle
Adds a strong, earthy aroma to the finished filling.

The step that matters

Fry in hot oil until golden, then drain. Oil that is too cool lets the breadcrumb coating absorb grease and turn soggy instead of crisp, so the shell loses its structure. Hot oil seals the coating quickly and sets a firm, golden crust that holds the filling.

“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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