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Pigeons Aux Olives

Pigeons aux Olives is a French dish of young pigeons braised with olives, butter, wine, broth, and seasoning.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and white wine are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,083 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓

Pigeons Aux Olives

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Draw and truss the pigeons.

  2. Place them in a fire-proof dish with butter.

  3. Leave uncovered until the pigeons brown slightly over high heat.

Braise

  1. Add salt, pepper, wine, meat-juice, broth, and olives.

  2. Cover the dish and cook gently, either in a bain-marie or a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C).

  3. Baste occasionally and cook for 45 minutes or more, depending on size and age.

Serve

  1. Remove excess fat from the sauce and serve the pigeons with olives and sauce in the same dish.

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. Butter + white winetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,083 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  2. Pepper + olivetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30,263 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. White wine + olivetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,949 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

  4. Pepper + white winetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,433 recipes

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

  5. Butter + olivetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,887 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

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 gentle covered cooking.
Butter
Browns the pigeons and adds richness to the pan sauce.
Dry white wine
Adds acidity and aroma that lift the flavour of the sauce.
Concentrated meat-juice
Deepens the savoury meat flavour and gives the sauce body.
Strong broth
Supplies liquid that forms the sauce and keeps the meat moist.
Olives
Add salty, briny flavour to the sauce.

The step that matters

Leave the pigeons uncovered over high heat until they brown. Browning creates savoury flavour through the Maillard reaction. Skipping or rushing it leaves the pigeons pale and the sauce flat, and covering too early traps steam instead of browning the surface.

“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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