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Larded Grouse

A whole grouse larded, salted, floured and roasted, served on bread sauce with fried crumbs and parsley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and parsley are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,675 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Larded Grouse

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Clean and wash the grouse.

  2. Lard the breast and legs.

  3. Insert a small skewer into the legs and through the tail, then tie firmly with twine.

  4. Dredge the grouse with coarse sea salt and rub the breast with soft batter.

  5. Dredge thickly with flour.

Roast

  1. Place in a 400°F (200°C) oven.

  2. Cook for 20 minutes for rare or 30 minutes for well done.

  3. If using a tin kitchen, cook for 30 to 35 minutes.

Serve

  1. When done, place on a hot dish with bread sauce spread underneath.

  2. Sprinkle fried crumbs over the grouse and sauce.

  3. Garnish with parsley.

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. Flour + parsleytop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together16,675 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Bread + parsleytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,588 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. Flour + saucetop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,078 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Bread + saucetop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,934 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Sauce + parsleytop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,693 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Grouse
Forms the main protein of the dish, cooking to a tender, juicy texture when roasted.
Lard
Adds fat that keeps the lean breast moist and helps the skin brown during roasting.
Flour
Forms a dry crust on the outside that helps the coating brown and crisp in the oven.
Bread sauce
Adds moisture and a soft, creamy base under the bird, balancing its richness.

The step that matters

Roasting time for doneness. Lean game birds dry out quickly when overcooked, and the gap between rare and well done is only about ten minutes. Checking the bird early keeps the meat juicy.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, bread, sauce):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Jalapenofits better
  3. Nutmegfits better
  4. Parsleythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, bread, sauce. 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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