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Salmi of Pigeons

A pigeon stew made with a sauce of onion, tomato, parsley, flour, cornflour, and stock, finished with tarragon vinegar and Parisian essence.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and tarragon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,563 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Salmi of Pigeons

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderately hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderately hot oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the sauce

  1. In a stewpan, heat the dripping and bacon fat over medium heat.

  2. Add the sliced onion, tomatoes, and parsley; fry until the onion is lightly browned.

  3. Stir in the flour and cornflour until smoothly mixed.

  4. Gradually pour in the stock and bring the sauce to a boil.

  5. Reduce heat and let it simmer gently for 15 minutes.

  6. Season with salt, pepper, and tarragon vinegar; add Parisian essence for color.

Assemble and bake

  1. Roast the pigeons, then cut them up and remove the skin.

  2. Place the pigeon pieces in a clean stewpan and strain the sauce over them.

  3. Cover the pan and place it in a larger pan of hot water in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 1 hour.

  4. Arrange the salmi on a hot dish and garnish with kite-shaped snippets.

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. Parsley + tarragontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  3. Pepper + tarragontop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,399 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Tomato + tarragontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together391 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 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

Flour
Thickens the sauce as it cooks, giving it body.
Cornflour
Adds extra thickening power, giving the sauce a smooth, glossy body.
Onion
Browns in the fat to add savory sweetness and depth of flavor to the sauce.
Tomatoes
Add acidity and fruity flavor that balances the rich fat and sauce.
Tarragon vinegar
Adds a sharp acidity that brightens the rich, savory sauce.
Dripping and bacon fat
Carry flavor and help brown the onion and build the base of the sauce.

The step that matters

Simmering and the covered oven braise. Gentle heat keeps the sauce from scorching and the flour from clumping, and the long covered bake in a water bath cooks the pigeon slowly so it becomes tender without drying out.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, parsley, flour, pepper, tarragon, vinegar):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, parsley, flour, pepper, tarragon, vinegar. 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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