Why it works: Olive and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,539 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓
Stewed Pigeon with Olives
Ingredients
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 and roast
Draw the pigeon, truss it for roasting, and roast for 10 minutes in a 400°F (200°C) oven, basting frequently with butter.
Untruss and cut the pigeon into neat joints.
Make the stew
Peel and chop the shallot, then fry it in 2 tablespoons of butter until light brown.
Add the pigeon pieces and fry a little longer, seasoning with pepper and salt.
Pour off the fat, then add the brown sauce, tomato sauce, and diced mushrooms.
Bring to a boil and skim, then add the olives.
Reduce heat and stew gently for 30 minutes.
Serve
Arrange the pigeon on a hot dish, place the olives and mushrooms around it, strain the sauce over, and serve.
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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Olive + tomatotop 1% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,539 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Shallot + mushroomtop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,982 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
-
Olive + mushroomtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,571 recipes
Shared aroma: trans,trans-2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
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Mushroom + tomatotop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,719 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,525 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Pigeon
- Provides the main meat, which is roasted, then gently stewed until tender.
- Butter
- Adds richness and helps brown the pigeon and shallot while basting and frying.
- Brown sauce
- Forms the savoury, rich body of the stew liquid.
- Tomato sauce
- Adds acidity and depth to the braising liquid.
- Preserved mushrooms
- Contribute earthy, savoury flavour and chewy texture to the stew.
- French olives
- Add briny, salty flavour that contrasts with the rich sauce.
The step that matters
Skimming before adding the olives. Boiling releases foam and fat impurities that cloud the sauce and dull its flavour. Skimming first keeps the sauce clear and clean-tasting before the olives go in and the stew simmers gently.
Swap the shallot
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, pepper, sauce, olive, mushroom, tomato):
- Capsicumfits better
- Spinachfits about as well
- Potatofits about as well
- Shallotthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, pepper, sauce, olive, mushroom, tomato. 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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