Name: To Boil Pigeons
Ingredients: pigeons; coarse sea salt; butter; parsley; broccoli

Why it works: Parsley and broccoli match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 653 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

To Boil Pigeons

Ingredients

Directions

Scalp the pigeons and draw them, removing the craw.
Wash the pigeons in several waters.
Cut off the pinions and turn the legs under the wings.
Dredge the pigeons and place them in soft cold water.
Boil the pigeons slowly for 15 minutes.
Dish the pigeons and pour melted butter over them.
Garnish with small bunches of broccoli and serve with butter and parsley on the side.

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.

Parsley + broccolitop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together653 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Butter + parsleytop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together28,563 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Butter + broccolitop 26% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,451 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).