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Pigeon Pie

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and shallot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,737 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Pigeon Pie

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Make the best gravy possible from the sheep's feet, gravy beef, pigeon trimmings, and any scraps.

  2. Cut the tender beef into neat pieces and roll it with the bacon cut into thin strips.

  3. Prepare the pigeons whole, seasoning the inside with chopped bacon, pepper, salt, and minced mushroom.

  4. Mix the gravy with marsala or white wine.

  5. Rub the pie dish with a shallot and sprinkle chopped parsley on the bottom before arranging the beef rolls.

  6. Place the pigeons on top of the beef and arrange the livers with bacon around them.

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 + shallottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,737 recipes

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

  2. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  3. Mushroom + shallottop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,982 recipes

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

  4. Beef + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  5. Mushroom + white winetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,765 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity).

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

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, pepper, mushroom, white wine, shallot):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Marjoramfits about as well
  4. Parsleythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, pepper, mushroom, white wine, shallot. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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