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Stewed Pigeons

A savory stew of pigeons, pork, bread, and green peas simmered in stock.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Summer savory and flour match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 263 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Stewed Pigeons

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Stuff the pigeons with bread, summer savory, butter, pepper, and salt.

Brown

  1. In an iron pot, fry the pork slices until browned, then remove them.

  2. Add the pigeons to the pot and brown them thoroughly, turning to prevent burning.

Stew and finish

  1. Add the stock and season if needed, then return the pork to the pot.

  2. Let the mixture stew quietly for at least 1.5 hours.

  3. If the gravy is not thick enough, stir in the brown flour.

  4. About 15 minutes before serving, add the can of green peas.

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. Summer savory + flourtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together263 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Summer savory + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together671 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Bread + peastop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together804 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexyl acetate (fruity, apple).

  5. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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 becomes tender during the long, slow stew.
Fat pork
Renders fat into the pot and adds savory flavor for browning the birds.
Bread
Stuffing that absorbs juices and adds body to the filling.
Butter
Adds richness and fat that helps browning and flavor.
Brown flour
Thickens the gravy so it becomes less watery.
Green peas
Add sweetness and color near the end of cooking.

The step that matters

Brown the pigeons thoroughly. Browning builds deep flavor through the Maillard reaction, and turning the birds prevents scorching. Pale or burnt surfaces will flavor the whole stew.

Swap the peas

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, summer savory, butter, pepper, pork, flour):

  1. Beansfits better
  2. Lentilsfits better
  3. Chestnutfits better
  4. Peasthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, summer savory, butter, pepper, pork, flour. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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.

More pigeon stew recipes

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