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English Jugged Pigeons

Pigeons stuffed with breadcrumbs, pork, egg yolks, celery, seasoned, boiled in a covered pail, served with a tomato ketchup gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Celery and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,377 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

English Jugged Pigeons

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the pigeons

  1. Stuff the cleaned pigeons with a mixture of breadcrumbs, chopped fat pork, powdered egg yolks, and chopped celery. Season with onion juice, pepper, and salt.

  2. Truss the pigeons by tying the wings and legs close to the bodies.

Cook in a pail

  1. Pack the pigeons in a covered agate-iron pail.

  2. Submerge the pail in boiling water, ensuring it is covered but not floating.

  3. Place a weight on top to prevent it from tipping.

  4. Cook for three hours if the pigeons are tough.

Finish the gravy

  1. Remove the pigeons and thicken the gravy with browned flour.

  2. Stir in the tomato ketchup, bring to a boil, and pour over the pigeons.

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. Celery + tomatotop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Celery + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Pepper + tomatotop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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, gentle moist cooking.
Breadcrumbs
Absorb juices and fat in the stuffing, keeping it moist and lightly structured.
Fat pork
Adds fat that keeps the stuffing and meat moist and flavourful during cooking.
Powdered egg yolks
Bind the stuffing and add richness to the filling.
Browned flour
Thickens the gravy and adds a toasted, nutty flavour.
Tomato ketchup
Adds sweetness and acidity to the finished gravy.

The step that matters

Keep the pail covered and submerged without letting it float. Gentle, steady moist heat in a sealed vessel tenderises the pigeons. If the pail floats or boils too hard, heat becomes uneven and the meat can dry out or cook unevenly.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, egg, celery, pepper, flour, tomato, ketchup):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Carrotfits better
  3. Mustardfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pork, egg, celery, pepper, flour, tomato, ketchup. 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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