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 Pigeons with Olives
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a sharp oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the pigeon
Draw the pigeon.
Truss the pigeon for roasting.
Roast for 10 minutes in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C), basting frequently with dripping or butter.
Untruss the pigeon.
Cut the pigeon into neat joints.
Make the sauce and stew
Peel and chop the shallot.
Fry the chopped shallot in the butter until light brown.
Add the pigeon pieces and fry a little longer.
Season the pigeon pieces with pepper and salt.
Pour off the fat.
Add the brown sauce, tomato sauce, and diced mushrooms.
Boil the sauce, then skim it.
Add the olives.
Stew gently for 30 minutes.
Serve
Arrange the pigeon on a hot dish.
Place the olives and mushrooms around the pigeon.
Strain the sauce over the whole.
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
- Forms the main body of the dish, becoming tender through roasting and slow stewing.
- Brown sauce
- Provides the rich, savoury body of the stewing liquid.
- Tomato sauce
- Adds acidity and depth of flavour to the stewing sauce.
- Butter
- Carries the flavour of the shallot and browns the pigeon pieces.
- Olives
- Contribute salty, briny flavour that cuts through the richness of the sauce.
The step that matters
Stew gently for 30 minutes. Boiling vigorously toughens meat and can break up the sauce, so the liquid should only simmer gently while the pigeon becomes tender.
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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