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‘Epigrammes’ of Partridge

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

‘Epigrammes’ of Partridge

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Remove the larger fillets from the partridges, leaving the minion-fillets attached to the breast-bone.

  2. Place the fillets in a flat stewpan with clarified butter.

  3. Beat the minion-fillets slightly and fix them together with a little force-meat.

  4. Shape the minion-fillets like the larger ones, season, and add them to the stewpan.

  5. Prepare a little force-meat with the flesh of a partridge and some poultry trimmings.

  6. Fry the backs and bones with vegetables, ham trimmings, and aromatics.

  7. Moisten with wine and gravy, then pass the stock through a napkin and skim off the fat.

  8. Use the stock to prepare a little brown sauce.

  9. Divide the force-meat into six parts, roll into pear shapes, and flatten with a knife.

  10. Arrange the shaped force-meat in a buttered stewpan and poach in salted water.

  11. Drain the poached force-meat.

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. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Meat + hamtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,095 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  3. Butter + winetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,645 recipes

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

  4. Butter + hamtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,475 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  5. Butter + meattop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,594 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

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