Name: Pigeon Pie, Raised
Ingredients: 4 or more pigeons; clarified butter; raised pie paste; forcemeat; hard-boiled eggs; truffles or mushrooms (optional); strips of ham or bacon (optional); tender beef steak (optional); gravy (made from pigeon bones)

Why it works: Butter and truffle are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,209 recipes. Both carry nonanal, which smells fat, citrus. The science ↓

Pigeon Pie, Raised

Oven, in the book's wordsA very steady oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a very steady oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Bone and quarter the pigeons, then fry them in a little clarified butter until nicely browned.
Place the fried pigeons in a case of raised pie paste.
Layer the pigeons with forcemeat and slices of hard-boiled eggs.
Add truffles, mushrooms, ham, bacon, or tender beef steak if desired.
Cover with a lid of paste, decorating with leaves or other designs.
Wrap a band of paper around the mold to prevent over-browning.
Bake in a steady oven at 300°F (150°C) for 2.5 to 3 hours.
Once done, fill through a funnel in the lid with gravy made from the pigeon bones.

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.

Butter + truffletop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,209 recipes

Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
Truffle + hamtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together516 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Truffle + beeftop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together412 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-ethylphenol (must).
Ham + beeftop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,729 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
Butter + hamtop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,475 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).