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Broiled Quails and Woodcock

Broiled quails or woodcock seasoned with salt, pepper, and butter, served on delicate toast.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Quail and butter work together. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 512 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓

Broiled Quails and Woodcock

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Clean the birds and split them down the back.

  2. Wash the birds carefully.

  3. Dry the birds inside and out with a clean cloth.

  4. Chill the birds on ice for 30 minutes.

Broil and serve

  1. Broil the birds over a clear, hot fire.

  2. Season the birds with salt and pepper.

  3. Add a piece of butter on top.

  4. Serve the birds on a round of delicate toast.

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. Quail + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together512 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  2. Quail + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together391 recipes

    Shared aroma: sabinene (woody, terpenic).

  3. Pepper + buttertop 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

Quails or woodcock
The lean meat is the main dish and cooks quickly, so it needs careful timing.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, helping the birds stay moist and brown lightly.
Slices of delicate toast
Serves as a base that holds the birds and soaks up their juices.

The step that matters

Broil the birds over a clear, hot fire. Direct high heat cooks small, lean birds very quickly. Overcooking dries out the meat, so watch closely and remove them as soon as they are done.

“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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