Why it works: Wheat and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,373 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Roast Pigeons
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the pigeons
Clean the pigeons.
Stuff the pigeons like chickens, leaving the feet on.
Dip the pigeons in scalding water to remove the skin.
Tie the feet together below the breastbone or cut them off.
If keeping the head, dip it in scalding water.
Pick the head clean.
Twist the wings back.
Place the liver between the right wing and the body.
Rub the outside of each bird with a mixture of pepper and salt.
Skewer the pigeons.
Roast
Add some water to the dripping pan.
Place a piece of butter in the pan for each bird.
Roast the pigeons in front of a hot fire, basting frequently for about 30 minutes.
When nearly done, dredge the pigeons with wheat flour.
Baste the pigeons with the butter in the pan.
Turn the pigeons to brown them evenly.
Once done, remove the pigeons.
Make the gravy and serve
Set the pan over the fire.
Make a thin batter with 1 teaspoon of wheat flour and cold water.
Stir the batter into the boiling gravy.
Continue stirring until the gravy turns brown.
Pour the gravy through a sieve into a tureen.
Serve the pigeons with the gravy.
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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Wheat + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,373 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + wheattop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,002 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Pepper + wheattop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together984 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, 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 meat; roasting in front of a hot fire browns and cooks them through.
- Butter
- Basting fat in the pan that adds richness and helps the birds brown.
- Wheat flour
- Dredged on the birds to help form a browned crust, and thickens the gravy as a batter.
- Black pepper
- Rubbed on the outside of the birds to add aroma and savoury bite.
The step that matters
Continue stirring the batter into the boiling gravy until it turns brown. Flour thickens liquid only when it is stirred into boiling liquid, and stirring prevents lumps. Cooking it further lets the gravy darken and gain flavour, while stopping too early leaves it thin and pale.
“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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