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Perdrix Roties

Roasted partridges served on buttered toast with consommé and garnished with watercress.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and white wine are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,083 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓

Perdrix Roties

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the birds

  1. Pluck the partridges.

  2. Draw the partridges.

  3. Clean the partridges.

  4. Wipe inside and out with a wet cloth without washing.

  5. Pass a wooden skewer through the thighs of each partridge.

  6. Pass a wooden skewer through the wings of each partridge.

  7. Place a slice of pork over the breast of each partridge.

Roast and baste

  1. Put the partridges in a baking pan with butter and boiling water or white wine.

  2. Baste the partridges frequently.

  3. Roast in a 350°F (175°C) oven for about 40 minutes.

  4. Remove the strings and skewers.

Make the sauce and serve

  1. Place the partridges on buttered toast on a hot dish.

  2. Add consommé or broth to the pan.

  3. Boil the consommé or broth.

  4. Strain the consommé or broth.

  5. Pour the consommé or broth over the birds.

  6. Garnish the birds with watercress.

  7. Serve with a salad.

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 + white winetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,083 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  2. Pork + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,933 recipes

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

  3. Pork + white winetop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,544 recipes

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

  4. Pork + watercresstop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together318 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).

  5. White wine + watercresstop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together45 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Partridges
Main protein; cooked whole so the meat stays moist and tender while roasting.
Pork
Thin slice laid on the breast to baste the lean meat and add fat as it roasts.
Butter
Adds fat and richness and helps the birds brown in the pan.
Consommé or broth
Reduced in the pan drippings to form a savory sauce that moistens the birds.

The step that matters

Basting frequently during roasting. Lean game birds dry out easily; regular basting with the pan liquid and fat keeps the surface moist and promotes even browning.

“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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