Why it works: Pepper and liver are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,375 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Pigeon Pie
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.
Wash the pigeons in cold water and dry them.
In a deep dish, place the chopped rump steak and season with pepper and coarse sea salt.
Add the pigeons and their liver, along with the yolk of hard-boiled eggs.
Cover the mixture with puff pastry and glaze with beaten egg.
Decorate with small pastry leaves and bake at 400°F (200°C) until golden.
Serve with cullis.
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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Pepper + livertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,375 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Liver + saucetop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together499 recipes
Shared aroma: decanoic acid (soapy, waxy).
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Pepper + saucetop 27% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together15,303 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Liver + eggtop 28% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,177 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Pepper + eggtop 33% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together50,580 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Pepper and sauce barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,303 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
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