Why it works: Pepper and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 33% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 50,580 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Pigeon or Lark Pie
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Truss the pigeons as for stewing and season with salt and pepper.
Place the seasoned rump steak at the bottom of a dish.
Assemble
Layer the trussed pigeons on top of the steak, followed by the yolks of the hard-boiled eggs.
Add the broth or water, then cover with another layer of steak.
Wet the edge of the dish and cover with puff pastry.
Wash the top with egg yolk and decorate with pastry leaves and pigeon feet.
Bake and serve
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 1 hour.
Before serving, make a small opening in the top and pour in hot gravy.
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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Pepper + eggtop 33% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together50,580 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Pepper and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 50,580 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
What each ingredient does
- Pigeons
- Provide the main meat, which becomes tender during the long, moist baking.
- Rump steak
- Adds savoury beef flavour and rich juices that mingle with the broth to form gravy.
- Hard-boiled egg yolks
- Add richness and a soft, crumbly texture to the filling.
- Puff pastry
- Forms a crisp, flaky crust that browns in the oven and seals in the filling.
- Egg yolk
- Brushed on the pastry, it promotes an even golden browning on the crust.
The step that matters
Sealing the pastry edge. Wetting the dish edge before laying the pastry helps it bond, so steam stays inside and the crust rises rather than separating or leaking juices during the long bake.
“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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