Why it works: Butter and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,338 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Partridge-cutlets with Colbert-sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the partridges
Draw and singe the partridges, then cut each in half lengthwise.
Split the meat of the pinion bone of each leg.
Introduce your finger between the skin and meat to fold the paw back into the opening.
Slightly beat each half-partridge and trim the bones.
Season both sides with salt and pepper.
Coat and cook
Roll in melted butter and breadcrumbs.
Broil on a slow fire for 12 minutes, turning occasionally.
Serve
Dish them up and pour some Colbert sauce on the bottom of the dish.
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.
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Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together15,338 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Pepper + saucetop 27% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together15,303 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Butter and sauce barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
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, which is flattened and cooked through to become the cutlets.
- Melted butter
- Carries browning and adds richness to the crumb coating as it cooks.
- Breadcrumbs
- Form a crisp, golden coating that protects the meat during broiling.
- Colbert sauce
- Adds a rich, buttery moisture and flavour under the cutlets when served.
The step that matters
Broil on a slow fire, turning occasionally. Broiling too fast can scorch the breadcrumb crust before the lean partridge meat cooks through. A slow fire with occasional turning browns the coating evenly while keeping the meat moist.
“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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