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Pigeon Pie

A savory pie with pigeons, rump steak, bread crumbs, herbs, egg, butter, veal stock, and crust.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 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 ↓

Pigeon Pie

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).

  2. Place the rump steak at the bottom of a dish and sprinkle with mixed salt and cayenne.

  3. Stuff the pigeons with bread crumbs mixed with sweet herbs and egg.

  4. Rub the pigeons with fresh butter and place them on the steak.

  5. Fill the spaces with hard-boiled egg yolks.

  6. Pour in veal stock until nearly full.

Bake and serve

  1. Cover with the top crust and bake for 1.5 hours.

  2. Before serving, make a small hole in the crust and pour in boiling gravy.

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. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  3. Bread + vealtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,056 recipes

    Shared aroma: cis-3-hexenol (green, grassy).

  4. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Butter + vealtop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,381 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

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

What each ingredient does

Rump steak
Forms the base layer and releases savoury juices that flavour the surrounding stock and gravy.
Egg
Binds the bread crumb and herb stuffing so it holds together inside the pigeons.
Hard-boiled egg yolks
Fill the gaps between birds, adding richness and a firm, crumbly texture to the pie.
Bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and liquid from the stuffing, giving it body and a soft texture.
Veal stock
Provides moisture and gelatine that turns into a savoury sauce as the pie bakes.
Fresh butter
Adds fat that enriches the pigeon skin and encourages gentle browning in the oven.

The step that matters

Pour in veal stock until nearly full. Stock must fill the dish without overflowing under the crust. Enough liquid keeps the meat moist and produces gravy, while leaving headroom prevents boiling over as the pie bakes.

“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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