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Pigeons Potted

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,395 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Pigeons Potted

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

  1. Clean the pigeons and season them with salt and pepper.

  2. Place them close together in a small, deep pan.

  3. Cover the pigeons with butter and tie a thin paper over them.

  4. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven until cooked.

  5. Once cooled, place the pigeons in pots that hold two or three each.

  6. Pour melted butter over the pigeons, ensuring it is thick.

  7. For long-term storage, bone the pigeons and arrange them in an oval shape in the pot.

  8. Optionally, stuff the pigeons with force meat before baking.

  9. For a spicier flavor, add more allspice and a little cayenne pepper before baking.

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 + allspicetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Butter + meattop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,594 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Meat + vealtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,890 recipes

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

  4. Pepper + meattop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,777 recipes

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

  5. Pepper + vealtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,049 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Swap the allspice

The recipe marks allspice as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, butter, meat, veal):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Sagefits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Allspicethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, butter, meat, veal. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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