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Squabs in Casserole

A casserole of squabs browned in fat, simmered with broth, potatoes, mushrooms, and cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Chicken and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,172 recipes. Both carry 1-butyl acetate, which smells fruity, banana. The science ↓

Squabs in Casserole

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the squabs

  1. Truss the squabs like you would for roasting a chicken.

  2. Dredge the squabs in flour and brown them in hot fat.

  3. Place the squabs in a casserole dish.

Braise

  1. Add the chicken or veal broth, salt, and pepper.

  2. Cook for 30 minutes.

  3. Parboil the potato balls, then brown them in the fat used for the squabs.

  4. Peel the mushrooms, break them into small pieces, and brown them in the fat.

  5. Add the mushrooms to the squabs and cook for an additional 20 minutes.

  6. Stir in the cream and thicken with a little flour.

  7. Optionally, add sherry or madeira before serving.

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. Chicken + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,172 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-butyl acetate (fruity, banana).

  2. Mushroom + sherrytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,176 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol (smoky, clove).

  3. Chicken + potatotop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,756 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-decenal (green, must).

  4. Pepper + potatotop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

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

  5. Squab + chickentop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Squabs
Provide the main meat, which becomes tender during the covered cooking in broth.
Flour
Coats the squabs for browning and later thickens the sauce.
Chicken or veal broth
Supplies the liquid that gently cooks the squabs and forms the base of the sauce.
Cream
Adds richness and body to the sauce, softening its flavour.
Mushrooms
Add earthy flavour and absorb savoury juices from the braising liquid.
Potato balls
Add starchy body and a browned, crisp exterior to the dish.

The step that matters

Browning the squabs in hot fat. Searing the flour-dusted surface creates browned flavour through the Maillard reaction, which the later braising liquid cannot supply. Pat the birds dry first so they brown rather than steam.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (squab, flour, chicken, pepper, mushroom, cream, sherry):

  1. Spinachfits about as well
  2. Capsicumfits about as well
  3. Asparagusfits about as well
  4. Potatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against squab, flour, chicken, pepper, mushroom, cream, sherry. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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