Why it works: Mushroom and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12,525 recipes. Both carry trans-2-decenal, which smells waxy, orange. The science ↓
Stewed Pigeons
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Pluck, draw, and wash the pigeons.
Cut the pigeons into quarters.
Mix the pepper, salt, and flour together.
Roll the quartered pigeons in this seasoning.
Brown and make the gravy
In a pan, melt the butter and fry the pigeons until lightly browned.
Remove the pigeons from the pan.
Fry the bacon and onion in the same pan until light brown.
Remove the bacon and onion from the pan.
Stir in the remaining flour until brown.
Add the stock and chopped mushrooms.
Bring the mixture to a boil.
Remove any scum.
Add the pigeons.
Simmer for one hour.
Serve
Prepare a large slice of toast on a dish.
Pile the pigeons on top of the toast.
Pour the gravy over the pigeons.
Serve hot.
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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Mushroom + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,525 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
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Mushroom + oniontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,626 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
-
Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Mushroom + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,580 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
What each ingredient does
- Pigeons
- Provide the main meat, which becomes tender during the long simmer.
- Mushrooms
- Add earthy flavour and moisture to the gravy as they release their juices.
- Flour
- Coats the pigeons and thickens the stock into a gravy as it browns and cooks.
- Butter
- Fat for frying that browns the pigeons and carries flavour into the dish.
- Bacon
- Adds smoky, salty fat that flavours the gravy and the frying pan.
The step that matters
Stir in the remaining flour until brown. Browning flour in the fat and pan residue builds a nutty, deeper flavour and colour, and the flour must be fully mixed in before the stock so the gravy thickens smoothly without lumps.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mushroom, butter, flour, pepper):
- Shallotfits better
- Spinachfits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against mushroom, butter, flour, pepper. 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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