Why it works: Leek and shallot share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 64 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓
Broiled Pigeons
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Cut the pigeons open on the back and flatten them without breaking the bones.
Dip the pigeons in oil.
Mix the bread crumbs, salt, pepper, parsley, leeks, and shallots together. Sprinkle the mixture over the pigeons, ensuring it adheres well.
Broil and serve
Broil the pigeons over a gentle fire until cooked through.
Serve with sauce ravigotte.
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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Leek + shallottop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together64 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Parsley + shallottop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,737 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Parsley + leektop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together759 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
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Pepper + shallottop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,898 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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 is cooked through under gentle heat.
- Bread crumbs
- Form a crisp coating that holds the herb mixture to the pigeons.
- Oil
- Carries the coating to the surface and helps it brown during broiling.
- Shallots
- Add a mild, aromatic onion flavour to the coating.
- Leeks
- Add a mild onion-like sweetness and aroma to the coating.
The step that matters
Broil over a gentle fire until cooked through. Pigeon meat dries out if overcooked, while too little heat leaves it underdone. A gentle fire cooks the meat through slowly enough to keep it moist while the coating crisps and browns.
Swap the leek
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, pepper, parsley, shallot):
- Chivefits about as well
- Leekthe original
- Carrotfits about as well
- Spinachfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, pepper, parsley, shallot. 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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