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 ↓
Broiled Squirrel
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Parboil the whole squirrel for a few minutes.
Broil
Grease the broiling iron and place it over a hot fire.
Turn the squirrel often while broiling.
Season drawn butter with pepper and salt, and moisten the squirrel with it.
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
- Whole squirrel
- Is the main protein that is cooked and served.
- Drawn butter
- Adds fat and moisture to the squirrel, carrying seasoning across its surface.
The step that matters
Turn the squirrel often while broiling. Frequent turning exposes each side to direct heat evenly, so the meat cooks through and browns without scorching in spots.
“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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