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English Jugged Pigeons

A stew of pigeons boiled with breadcrumbs, pork fat, egg yolks, celery, onion juice, spices, and tomato ketchup.

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

  1. Clean and wash the pigeons, then stuff them with breadcrumbs, chopped fat pork, powdered egg yolks, and boiled chopped celery.

  2. Season the mixture with onion juice, pepper, and coarse sea salt.

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

Cook

  1. Pack the pigeons in a close-topped agate-iron pail.

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

  3. Place a weight on top to prevent the pail from tipping during boiling.

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

Make the gravy and serve

  1. Thicken the gravy with browned flour.

  2. Add tomato ketchup.

  3. Boil the gravy.

  4. Pour the gravy 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 cooking in the sealed pail.
Breadcrumbs
Absorb and hold the juices inside the stuffing, keeping it moist.
Fat pork
Adds moisture and richness as it melts into the stuffing and the birds.
Hard-boiled egg yolks
Bind the stuffing and add a rich, smooth texture.
Browned flour
Thickens the gravy and adds a toasted, nutty flavor.
Tomato ketchup
Adds sweetness and acidity to the gravy.

The step that matters

Submerging the pail in boiling water. The pail must be covered almost to the top yet stay upright and steady. Gentle, even heat through the sealed pail cooks the birds through without drying the meat, while a tipping pail could let water in and spoil the stew.

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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