Why it works: Butter and pepper 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 ↓
Grilled Pigeons
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Ensure the pigeons are fresh, then pluck, draw, and wash them.
Split the backs of the pigeons and rub them with butter.
Season with pepper and coarse sea salt.
Grill and serve
Grease the gridiron with a little butter and grill the pigeons over moderate heat for 15 to 20 minutes.
Serve hot with mushroom sauce or gravy.
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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Butter + peppertop 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
- Pigeons
- Provide the main meat, which cooks through over moderate heat on the grill.
- Butter
- Adds richness and moisture to the skin and helps it brown on the gridiron.
The step that matters
Grill over moderate heat for 15 to 20 minutes. Moderate heat cooks the pigeon through while the butter-rubbed skin browns. Greasing the gridiron first keeps the birds from sticking and tearing as they cook.
“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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