Why it works: Potato and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,023 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Stewed Pigeons
Ingredients
Directions
Stew the pigeons in brown sauce.
Add whole potato-onions for a milder flavor.
Cook until the pigeons are tender. Serve hot.
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.
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Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,023 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Sauce + oniontop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together10,474 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Sauce + potatotop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,073 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Sauce and onion barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 10,474 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sauce, onion):
- Horseradishfits better
- Mustardfits better
- Chivefits better
- Potatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sauce, onion. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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