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, then rub the outside with a mixture of salt and pepper.
Rub the inside with butter and fill with stuffing or mashed potatoes.
Sew up the slit and butter the sides of a tin basin or pudding dish.
Assemble the pie
Line the sides with pie paste rolled to ¼ inch thickness and place the pigeons inside.
Cut ¼ pound of butter and place it over the pigeons, then sprinkle with salt, pepper, and parsley if desired.
Dredge flour over the pigeons and add enough water to nearly fill the pie.
Lay skewers across the top and cover with puff pastry, cutting a slit in the middle.
Decorate the edge with pastry leaves or braids, then bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 1 hour.
Finish and serve
When nearly done, brush the top with beaten egg yolk.
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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Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Parsley + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together16,675 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, 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 cooks through slowly inside the crust.
- Butter
- Adds richness and moisture, and helps the crust brown.
- All-purpose flour
- Dusted over the pigeons to thicken the juices into a gravy.
- Egg yolk
- Brushed on the top to give the pastry a glossy golden colour.
The step that matters
Brushing the top with egg yolk near the end. Egg yolk browns and glazes when baked. Adding it too early can over-darken the pastry before the pigeons are cooked through.
Swap the parsley
The recipe marks parsley as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, butter, bread, flour, egg):
- Parsleythe original
- Nutmegfits about as well
- Capersfits less well
- Sagefits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, butter, bread, flour, egg. 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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