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To Broil Pigeons

Pigeons are cleaned, seasoned, broiled, and served with mushrooms or catsup, garnished with fried bread crumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 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

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Clean the pigeons well and season with salt and pepper.

Broil

  1. Broil over a clear, slow fire, turning often and adding a little butter.

  2. If the fire is not clear, place on a buttered sheet of paper to prevent smoking.

Serve

  1. When done, pour over stewed or pickled mushrooms, or catsup and melted butter.

  2. Garnish with fried bread crumbs or sippets.

Another method

  1. For another method, truss the pigeons for boiling and flatten them with a cleaver without breaking the skin.

  2. Season with salt, pepper, a bit of butter, and a teaspoon of water, then tie them at both ends.

  3. Egg and dredge with grated bread mixed with spices and herbs, then lay on the grill, turning frequently.

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. Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

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

  3. Mushroom + breadtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,536 recipes

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

  4. Pepper + mushroomtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,580 recipes

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

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

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

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 is cooked whole over the fire.
Butter
Adds fat and moisture while the birds broil and browns their surface.
Grated bread
Forms a crumb coating that helps the dredged birds brown on the grill.
Stewed or pickled mushrooms
Add moisture and a tangy or savory note to the finished birds.

The step that matters

Broil over a clear, slow fire, turning often. A clear, slow fire cooks the birds through gently, while frequent turning and butter prevent scorching and drying. A smoky or fierce fire can char the outside before the meat is cooked.

“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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