Why it works: Pepper and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 85,593 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Becasse Rotie II
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the bird
Pluck and skin the neck and head of the bird.
Truss the bird with the head under the wing.
Bend the legs back at the first joint, pressing the feet against the thigh without drawing them.
Tie a strip of pork around each leg.
Run a small iron skewer through the bird and tie it to the spit.
Alternatively, place it in a roasting pan in the oven.
Roast and serve
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Place the roasting pan with slices of buttered toast beneath to catch drippings.
Baste the bird with melted butter.
Roast for 12 to 15 minutes.
Sprinkle the bird with coarse sea salt and black pepper, and serve on the toast.
Garnish with cresses and serve with a salad.
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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Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Butter
- Melted butter basting adds moisture and promotes browning on the bird's skin.
- Slices of buttered toast
- Catch the drippings and soak up juices, then carry the roasted bird when served.
- Pork strip (in the method)
- Wrapped around each leg, it adds fat that bastes the lean bird as it roasts.
The step that matters
Roast for 12 to 15 minutes. A small bird cooks quickly, so overcooking dries the lean meat. Watching closely keeps it juicy while the skin browns.
“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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