Why it works: Pork and potato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,668 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓
Pigeon Pie
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the filling
Boil the pigeons with the pork cut into small pieces until tender.
Remove as many bones as possible from the pigeons.
Add the diced potatoes and cook until they are tender.
Assemble and bake
Line a deep dish with pastry and bake until half done.
Fill the dish with the pigeon and pork mixture, adding some thin strips of pastry.
Cover with a top crust and bake until well browned.
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.
-
Pork + potatotop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,668 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
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 through long simmering.
- Pork
- Adds fat and richness to the filling, keeping the meat moist as it cooks.
- Potatoes
- Add body to the filling and help thicken it as they soften.
- Pastry
- Forms the lining and top crust that hold the filling together.
The step that matters
Baking the pastry until half done. Partly baking the lined dish sets the base so it does not turn soggy when the hot, moist filling is added. Baking it fully first would overcook it before the final bake.
“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 pie recipes
You might also like
Potato Croquettes255 recipes
Pork Cake107 recipes
Roast Pork82 recipes
Potato Rolls78 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.