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For Filling Raised Pies. Pigeons.

A savory filling for raised pies made with pigeons, beef gravy, mushrooms, herbs, butter, flour, and optional sherry.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

For Filling Raised Pies. Pigeons.

Ingredients

Directions

Make the gravy base

  1. In a stewpan, combine 1 quart of beef gravy, 1 ounce of butter, and ½ ounce of flour. Simmer over low heat.

  2. Add the remaining gravy gradually, stirring to avoid lumps.

Finish the filling

  1. Add the pigeons and simmer until cooked through.

  2. If desired, add a little forcemeat and 1-2 glasses of sherry.

  3. Color the mixture a fine brown with gravy coloring.

Fill and serve

  1. Fill your pie with the mixture and garnish with parsley and lemon slices before serving.

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. Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Beef + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  3. Mushroom + sherrytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,176 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol (smoky, clove).

  4. Mushroom + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  5. Mushroom + parsleytop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,132 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Pigeons
Provide the main cooked meat that forms the body of the filling.
Beef gravy
Supplies the liquid and savory flavor that carries the whole filling.
Butter
Enriches the base and adds richness and a smooth mouthfeel.
Flour
Thickens the gravy base so the filling holds together rather than running thin.

The step that matters

Stirring in the gravy gradually. Adding liquid slowly while stirring lets the flour disperse evenly, which prevents lumps and gives a smooth, properly thickened sauce.

“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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