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Pigeons, a LA Seville

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Truffle and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and 1,900 recipes mention both. Both carry 2,4-nonadienal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

The recipe

Ingredients

Contains: wheat, shellfish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

  1. Prepare the pigeons by braising them in wine mirepoix, covering with thin layers of fat bacon.

  2. Moisten the pigeons half their depth and braise gently for about 20 minutes, basting frequently with their own juices.

  3. Once cooked, drain the pigeons on a napkin and remove any strings.

  4. Place the pigeons with their backs against a croustade of fried bread in the center of a serving dish.

  5. Garnish with Spanish ragout, placing a large crayfish between each pigeon and a minion fillet of fowl on their breasts.

  6. Top with a small larded sweetbread and serve.

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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Truffle + mushroomtop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together1,900 recipes

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

  2. Bread + hamtop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together2,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  3. Wine + mushroomtop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together2,509 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-propylphenol (allspice, anise).

  4. Pepper + carrottop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together14,555 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Carrot + peastop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together2,994 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

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

Flavor stand-ins for the carrot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (wine, pepper, bread, truffle, ham, mushroom, peas):

  1. Tomatobetter flavor fit
  2. Asparagusbetter flavor fit
  3. Capsicumabout as good a flavor fit
  4. Carrotthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against wine, pepper, bread, truffle, ham, mushroom, peas. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

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