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Broiled Partridge

A partridge seasoned with salt and pepper, coated in butter and breadcrumbs, broiled and served with brown mushroom or Espagnole sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Broiled Partridge

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Prepare the partridge by dividing and flattening it.

  2. Season the bird with coarse sea salt and black or cayenne pepper.

Coat

  1. Dip the partridge in clarified butter, then coat it with fine bread crumbs, ensuring even coverage.

  2. For a better appearance, dip it a second time in butter and crumbs.

Broil and serve

  1. Broil the partridge over a clear fire for 20 to 30 minutes.

  2. Serve with brown mushroom sauce or Espagnole sauce.

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 + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  3. Bread + mushroomtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Pepper + mushroomtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,580 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Pepper + breadtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,964 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Partridge
Provides the main meat, which is cooked through under direct heat.
Clarified butter
Carries the bread crumbs and promotes golden browning and richness on the surface.
Bread crumbs
Form a crisp, browned coating that seals in moisture during broiling.

The step that matters

Dip and coat the partridge evenly. Even butter and crumb coverage gives a uniform crust that browns well and protects the flesh from drying out under the fierce heat of the broiler.

“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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