Why it works: Butter and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 85,593 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Broiled Pigeons
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Ensure the pigeons are fresh, then pluck, draw, and wash them.
Split the backs and rub the birds with butter.
Season with pepper and salt.
Broil and serve
Broil over moderate heat for 20 to 30 minutes.
Serve hot with mushroom sauce or 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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Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Pigeons
- Provide the lean, rich meat that is the centre of the dish.
- Butter
- Adds fat that keeps the surface moist and helps it brown under heat.
The step that matters
Broil over moderate heat for 20 to 30 minutes. Pigeon meat is lean and dries out quickly under direct heat. Keeping the heat moderate and watching the time lets the skin brown while the meat stays juicy inside.
“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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