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To Pickle Pigeons

A method for pickling pigeons in a spiced wine and vinegar brine.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Allspice and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,331 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

To Pickle Pigeons

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the pigeons

  1. Bone the pigeons.

  2. Turn the pigeons inside out.

  3. Lard the inside of the pigeons.

  4. Season the pigeons with allspice and salt.

  5. Turn the pigeons back.

  6. Tie the neck and rump of each pigeon with thread.

  7. Boil the pigeons in water for 1-2 minutes to plump.

  8. Remove the pigeons from the water.

  9. Dry the pigeons well.

Make the pickle and cook

  1. Prepare a pickle of equal parts white wine and vinegar, adding white pepper, allspice, ginger, nutmeg, and bay leaves.

  2. Bring the pickle to a boil.

  3. Add the pigeons to the boiling pickle.

  4. Cook small pigeons for 15 minutes, large ones for 20 minutes.

  5. Remove the pigeons from the pickle.

Cool and store

  1. Wipe the pigeons.

  2. Let the pigeons cool.

  3. Remove the fat from the pickle.

  4. Return the pigeons to the jar.

  5. Seal the jar with a bladder to keep out air.

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. Allspice + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,331 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Allspice + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,620 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Ginger + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,324 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. White wine + vinegartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,776 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. White pepper + nutmegtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,375 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Pigeons
Main protein; boning and larding keep the meat moist and rich during cooking.
White wine vinegar
Provides acidity that preserves and sharpens the flavour of the pickle.
White wine
Adds liquid and mild acidity to the pickle, carrying the spices into the meat.
Bay leaves
Adds a subtle aromatic herbal note to the pickling liquid.

The step that matters

Remove the fat from the pickle. Fat left on the surface of the pickle can turn rancid during storage and spoil the preserve, so it should be skimmed off before the pigeons go back in.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (allspice, white wine, vinegar, ginger, nutmeg):

  1. Clovefits better
  2. Cinnamonfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against allspice, white wine, vinegar, ginger, nutmeg. 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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