Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Pigeon Pie
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the pigeons
Clean and truss the pigeons, rubbing the outside and inside with a mixture of pepper and salt.
Rub the inside with butter and fill with stuffing or mashed potatoes. Sew up the slit.
Assemble the pie
Butter the sides of a tin basin or pudding dish and line it with pie paste rolled to ¼ inch thickness.
Place the pigeons in the dish, cut the butter into pieces and place over them. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and parsley if desired. Dredge with flour.
Add water to nearly fill the pie, lay skewers across the top, and cover with a paste crust. Cut a slit in the middle, decorate the edge with leaves or braids of paste, and bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 1 hour.
When nearly done, brush the top with a beaten egg yolk mixed with milk.
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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Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Wheat + milktop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,418 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
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Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Bread + wheattop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together209 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
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 slowly inside the crust.
- Butter
- Adds richness and moisture, keeping the meat and stuffing from drying out as they bake.
- Wheat flour
- Dredging coats the meat and helps thicken the juices into a richer gravy.
- Egg yolk
- Brushed on top, it promotes a glossy, golden browning on the crust.
- Stuffing or mashed potatoes
- Fills the birds from inside, adding moisture and absorbing their juices as they cook.
The step that matters
Adding the water before covering the pie. Water must nearly fill the dish so the pie does not dry out or scorch while baking, and the juices and butter mix into a gravy under the crust.
Swap the parsley
The recipe marks parsley as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, butter, bread, wheat, flour, egg, milk):
- Nutmegfits better
- Cinnamonfits better
- Parsleythe original
- Turmericfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, butter, bread, wheat, flour, egg, milk. 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.
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