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Partridge, Roast

A roasted partridge served on toast with gravy, breadcrumbs, and bread sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Bread and butter 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 ↓

Partridge, Roast

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Pluck, draw, and truss the partridge like a roast chicken.

  2. Cover the breast with a slice of bacon.

Roast

  1. Roast in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 30 minutes, basting frequently with hot fat.

  2. A few minutes before serving, remove the bacon, dredge the bird lightly with flour, and baste well for a nice pale brown appearance.

Serve

  1. Serve on the slice of toast with gravy, breadcrumbs, and bread 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. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  2. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Sauce + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together15,338 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Sauce + flourtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,078 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Partridge
Is the main protein; roasting cooks it through while its surface develops color.
Bacon
Covers the lean breast, adding fat and savory flavor as it renders during roasting.
Butter or good fat
Basting fat carries heat over the surface, promoting even browning and moisture.
Flour
Dusted on the bird, it helps form a light, pale crust that browns during basting.
Bread sauce
Thickened bread-based sauce that adds moisture and body to the dry roasted meat.

The step that matters

Dredging with flour and basting at the end. Flour and hot fat form a thin crust that browns quickly. Too long or too hot and it darkens or burns before the bird is cooked through.

“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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