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To Broil Pigeons Another Way

A method of broiling pigeons with salt, pepper, butter, water, bread crumbs, spices, and herbs, served with mushrooms, catsup, and melted butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

To Broil Pigeons Another Way

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the pigeons

  1. Truss the pigeons as for boiling.

  2. Flatten them with a cleaver, avoiding breaking the skin.

  3. Season with salt, pepper, butter, and water.

  4. Tie them closed at both ends.

Coat and broil

  1. Egg the pigeons.

  2. Dredge the pigeons with grated bread mixed with spices and herbs.

  3. Place them on a grill and turn frequently.

  4. If the fire is not clear, use a buttered sheet of paper underneath.

Serve

  1. Serve with stewed or pickled mushrooms, catsup, and melted butter.

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. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  2. Pepper + breadtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,964 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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 cooks through over the grill while the skin crisps.
Grated bread
Forms a crumb coating that browns on the grill and protects the meat from drying.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, keeping the meat moist during broiling.
Eggs (in the method)
Act as a binder so the bread crumbs adhere to the pigeons.

The step that matters

Turning on the grill. Turning frequently over moderate heat lets the coating brown evenly without scorching, while the meat cooks through gently. A fire that is not clear produces smoke and soot, which is why the buttered paper is used underneath.

“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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