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Cutlets of Pigeon— the Crouton

Cutlets of pigeon seasoned, breaded, and fried, served with a potato border and a bread crouton.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Cutlets of Pigeon— the Crouton

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cutlets

  1. Sprinkle the cutlets' underside with finely chopped eschalot, parsley, pepper, coarse sea salt, and mushrooms if available.

  2. Lay the cutlets in a well-buttered frying pan and fry gently for about 10 minutes.

  3. Remove the cutlets and place them between two plates with a heavy weight on top to press until cold.

  4. Once cold, trim the cutlets neatly and brush them with the beaten egg.

Crumb and fry

  1. Roll the cutlets thickly in finely made white bread crumbs, egging and crumbing them twice if necessary.

  2. Ensure the projecting claw remains clean during the egging and crumbing process.

  3. Heat boiling fat in a stewpan and fry the cutlets until golden brown.

  4. Drain the cutlets on a wire sieve and keep hot.

Finish and serve

  1. Prepare a potato border and fry a crouton of bread.

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

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

  2. Parsley + potatotop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,855 recipes

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

  3. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Mushroom + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  5. Pepper + potatotop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 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

Cutlets of pigeon
Provide the main meat, which is pressed, crumbed and fried to a golden crust.
Butter
Enriches the pan and gives gentle browning and a rich flavour during the initial frying.
1 whole egg
Acts as a binder so the bread crumbs adhere evenly to the cutlets.
Finely made white bread crumbs
Form a crisp, golden coating when fried in hot fat.

The step that matters

Pressing the cutlets until cold. Pressing and chilling firms the meat and keeps the cutlets compact, so the crumb coating stays intact and the cutlets do not fall apart in the hot fat.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (parsley, pepper, mushroom, butter, egg, bread):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Capsicumfits about as well
  3. Asparagusfits about as well
  4. Potatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against parsley, pepper, mushroom, butter, egg, bread. 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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