Name: Pigeons in Savory Jelly
Ingredients: 3 pigeons, with heads and feet on; 1 sprig of myrtle; ½ cup white wine vinegar; juice of 3 lemons; 1-2 blades of mace; a few peppercorns; ¼ teaspoon salt; jelly (prepared as per instructions)

Why it works: White wine and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,832 recipes. Both carry myrcene, which smells balsamic, herbaceous. The science ↓

Pigeons in Savory Jelly

Ingredients

Directions

Roast the pigeons with their heads and feet on, placing a sprig of myrtle in their bills.
Prepare the jelly using the same method as for the chickens.
Pour a little jelly into a basin and let it set.
Once set, lay the pigeons in the basin with their breasts down.
Fill the bowl with the remaining jelly, ensuring it doesn't set before pouring.
Let it stand overnight.
The next day, place the basin in warm water until the jelly loosens.
Invert the dish over the basin and turn it out.

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.

White wine + lemontop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,832 recipes

Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).
White wine + vinegartop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,776 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Myrtle + lemontop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together39 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
White wine + macetop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,329 recipes

Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).
Myrtle + macetop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6 recipes

Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

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

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (myrtle, white wine, vinegar, lemon):

Rosemaryfits better
Marjoramfits better
Thymefits better
Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against myrtle, white wine, vinegar, lemon. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.