Skip to main content
Main

Dove Pie

A savory pie made with dove meat, potatoes, and a rich crust, simmered in a seasoned broth.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

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 ↓

Dove Pie

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.

Make the filling

  1. In a large pot, bring 2 quarts of water to a boil.

  2. Add the doves and skim off any scum that rises to the surface.

  3. Season with salt and pepper, then add parsley, onion, and cloves.

  4. Stir in the salt pork and boil until the doves are tender.

  5. Thicken the mixture with browned flour and stir in the butter.

  6. Remove from heat and let cool.

Assemble and bake

  1. In a pie pan lined with rich crust, layer some doves and sliced potatoes until full.

  2. Cover with crust on the sides and top, then bake at 350°F (175°C) until golden.

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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Parsley + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,768 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Parsley + oniontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

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

  5. Onion + porktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,214 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

Doves
Provide the main meat, which becomes tender through long simmering in the filling.
Salt pork
Adds fat and savory flavor that enriches the broth as it cooks.
Browned flour
Thickens the cooking liquid so the filling holds together in the pie.
Butter
Adds richness and fat to the thickened filling.
Rich pie crust
Forms the enclosing shell that holds the filling and browns in the oven.
Sliced potatoes
Add starch and body, filling the pie and soaking up some of the cooking liquid.

The step that matters

Skimming the scum after the doves go in. Foam that rises as the birds first heat contains impurities that can cloud the broth and taint its flavor. Removing it early keeps the liquid clear and clean-tasting before the filling is thickened.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, parsley, clove, pork, flour, butter, egg):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Chivefits better
  3. Capsicumfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, parsley, clove, pork, flour, butter, 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.

You might also like

Potato CroquettesPotato Croquettes255 recipesPork CakePork Cake107 recipesRoast PorkRoast Pork82 recipesPotato RollsPotato Rolls78 recipes