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Pigeons Smothered with Peas

Pigeons smothered in a buttery stock with peas.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Pork and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 13,933 recipes. Both carry 2-furfurylthiol, which smells coffee, roasted. The science ↓

Pigeons Smothered with Peas

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the pigeons

  1. Lard the breasts of the pigeons with pork fat.

  2. Place a piece of butter, a little salt, and pepper inside each pigeon.

Cook and serve

  1. In a skillet, combine flour, butter, stock, salt, and pepper; bring to a boil.

  2. Add the pigeons to the skillet and cover closely.

  3. Cook for 45 minutes, then add the peas just before serving.

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. Pork + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,933 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

  2. Peas + porktop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,589 recipes

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

  3. Peas + peppertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,331 recipes

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

  4. Pork + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,121 recipes

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

  5. Peas + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,887 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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 and juicy during covered cooking.
Pork fat
Larding the breasts adds fat that keeps the lean meat moist and flavorful.
Butter
Adds richness and fat that carries flavor through the sauce and the birds.
Stock
Forms the cooking liquid that moistens the pigeons and builds the sauce.
French peas
Add sweetness, color and a tender texture to the finished dish.

The step that matters

Add the peas just before serving. Peas cook quickly and turn soft and dull-colored if simmered too long. Adding them at the end keeps them bright, sweet, and with a pleasant bite.

Swap the peas

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

  1. Beansfits better
  2. Soybeanfits better
  3. Lima beansfits better
  4. Peasthe original

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