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Braised Fowl

Braised fowl cooked in stock with ham, breadcrumbs, butter, herbs, and vegetables.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Braised Fowl

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fowl

  1. Place the fowl breast downwards.

  2. Put the slice of ham on top of the fowl.

  3. Spread the force-meat over the ham, adding a little into the legs and wings to maintain their shape.

  4. Sew the fowl up and truss it as for roasting.

Cook

  1. Cook the fowl in stock for one hour.

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. Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Basil + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,823 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  3. Parsley + basiltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,351 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  4. Parsley + nutmegtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,062 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  5. Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,318 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

What each ingredient does

Fowl
Forms the main body of the dish and provides the meat that is cooked through in the stock.
Bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and bind the force-meat so it holds together around the ham.
Butter or suet
Adds fat that enriches the force-meat and keeps it moist as it cooks.
Egg
Binds the force-meat so it sets firm and holds its shape when cooked.
Cooked ham
Adds savoury flavour and substance inside the stuffing layer.
Mushrooms
Contribute earthy flavour and moisture to the force-meat.

The step that matters

Sew the fowl up and truss it as for roasting. If the stuffing is packed too loosely or the fowl is not closed and tied securely, the force-meat can escape or break up during the long simmer in stock. Firm, even trussing keeps the shape and holds the filling in place.

Swap the basil

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, bread, butter, parsley, lemon, nutmeg, egg):

  1. Marjoramfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Basilthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, bread, butter, parsley, lemon, nutmeg, egg. 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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