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A LA Frangaise

A pigeon dish braised in port wine, vinegar, and spices, then baked with breadcrumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and mushroom match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and 12,516 recipes mention both. Both carry trans-2-decenal, which smells waxy, orange. The science ↓

The recipe

Ingredients

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

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Prepare the pigeons by marinating them in port wine for several hours.

  2. Chop shallots and boil them in vinegar.

  3. Add broth, thicken with flour and butter.

  4. Mix in minced liver, pepper, salt, ketchup, and chopped mushrooms.

Stuff and stew

  1. Stuff the pigeons with a mixture of chopped sage, onion, bacon.

  2. Moisten the stuffing with egg or gravy.

  3. Place pigeons in a stew with wine, pepper, mace, onion, and broth.

  4. Stew until tender.

Bake and serve

  1. Remove pigeons, brush with beaten egg and oiled butter.

  2. Coat with breadcrumbs.

  3. Bake in the oven at 400°F (200°C) until browned.

  4. Strain and thicken the gravy.

  5. Serve with the pigeons.

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. Butter + mushroomtop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together12,516 recipes

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

  2. Port wine + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together570 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Port wine + vinegartop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together598 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

  4. Port wine + buttertop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,498 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  5. Mushroom + corntop 6% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together399 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

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 through long stewing.
Liver
Adds richness and depth to the gravy and stuffing.
Flour
Thickens the broth into a smooth gravy.
Butter
Adds fat and richness to the gravy and the glazed coating.
Egg
Binds the stuffing and gives the crust a golden, glossy finish.
Port wine
Adds acidity and fruity sweetness that flavours the meat during marinating and stewing.

The step that matters

Stew until tender. Pigeon is lean and can turn tough if cooked too fast or too briefly. Slow, moist cooking in liquid breaks down connective tissue so the meat becomes tender.

“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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