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Pigeons Larded, and a Ragout of Cock's Combs

A dish of larded pigeons simmered in a ragout of stock, ham, onion, herbs, and bacon.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Pigeons Larded, and a Ragout of Cock's Combs

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Draw the pigeons and fill the inside with farce.

  2. Lard the pigeons and place them in a stewpan.

Braise

  1. Add the second stock, trimmings, ham, onion, thyme, parsley, bay leaves, and mace.

  2. Cover with bacon and place the pigeons on top, covering them with more bacon and paper.

  3. Simmer over low heat until tender.

Finish and serve

  1. Once done, remove the pigeons and finish as with other lardings.

  2. Serve the ragout on the dish and place the pigeons on top.

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. Thyme + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Onion + thymetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,171 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

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

  4. Thyme + macetop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,113 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  5. Parsley + macetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,268 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

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 slow simmering.
Bacon
Lard and cover the birds, adding fat that keeps the meat moist during cooking.
Second stock
Forms the cooking liquid that gently braises the birds and builds the sauce.
Lean ham
Adds savoury, meaty flavour to the stock and ragout.
Onion
Adds aromatic sweetness and depth to the braising liquid.

The step that matters

Simmering over low heat until tender. Gentle simmering breaks down connective tissue slowly. A hard boil toughens the meat and dries the surface, so keep the liquid barely moving.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, onion, thyme, parsley):

  1. Marjoramfits better
  2. Celeryfits better
  3. Garlicfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, onion, thyme, parsley. 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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