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Pigeon Pie

A savory pie made with pigeon meat, liver, eggs, and puff pastry.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and shallot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,737 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Pigeon Pie

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. Cut the rump steak into thin slices and cover the bottom of a dish with it.

  2. Season the steak with parsley and shallot.

  3. Chop the hard-boiled eggs and pigeon livers with shallot and parsley.

  4. Mix the chopped eggs and livers with bread crumbs, pepper, salt, and butter.

  5. Fill the pigeon pieces with the mixture.

  6. Place the pigeon pieces in the dish, add more seasoning, and cover with more steak.

Assemble and bake

  1. Add water or gravy.

  2. Cover the dish with puff pastry.

  3. Cut leaves from pastry.

  4. Lay the pastry leaves on top.

  5. Egg wash the pastry.

  6. Bake.

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. Parsley + shallottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,737 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Shallot + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,898 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Shallot + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,245 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Rump steak
Forms the main meaty layers that become tender during the long, slow cooking.
Hard-boiled eggs
Add body and richness to the chopped filling and help bind it together.
Pigeon livers
Contribute a rich, strong flavour and moist, soft texture to the filling.
Bread crumbs
Absorb juices and fat, helping the filling hold together and stay moist.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and helps the filling taste smooth and savoury.
Puff pastry
Forms a flaky, crisp top crust that browns in the oven.

The step that matters

Egg wash the pastry. An even egg wash gives the crust its golden, glossy browning. Missed spots bake pale and dull, so brush the whole surface lightly before baking.

Swap the shallot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (parsley, egg, liver, bread, pepper, butter):

  1. Shallotthe original
  2. Chivefits about as well
  3. Capsicumfits about as well
  4. Carrotfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against parsley, egg, liver, bread, pepper, butter. 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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