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An English Pigeon-pie

A savory pie made with pigeon, steak, ham, eggs, and puff pastry, baked with stock and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and mace are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12,257 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

An English Pigeon-pie

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the filling

  1. Pound the steak.

  2. Remove skin and fibers from the steak.

  3. Cut the steak into 3x3 inch pieces.

  4. Line the bottom of a pie dish with the steak pieces.

  5. Season the steak pieces with salt, pepper, and mace.

  6. Clean the pigeons.

  7. Truss the pigeons.

  8. Rub the pigeons inside with salt and pepper.

  9. Place 1 ounce of butter inside each pigeon.

  10. Lay the pigeons on the steak.

  11. Add a slice of ham on each pigeon.

  12. Include the yolks and sliced whites of the hard-boiled eggs.

  13. Fill the dish with stock.

  14. Thicken the stock with a brown roux if desired.

  15. Add a few balls of good force-meat.

  16. Add small dice of paste.

Top and bake

  1. Edge the dish with a band of paste.

  2. Cover the dish with the same paste.

  3. Notch the edges together.

  4. Trim the edges.

  5. Clean 3 pigeons' feet.

  6. Stick the claws upward in the center of the top.

  7. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for about 1 hour, ensuring it bakes evenly.

Glaze and serve

  1. Remove from the oven.

  2. Brush the surface with beaten egg yolk mixed with a few drops of milk.

  3. Return to the oven for 5 more minutes until browned.

  4. Serve hot or cold; cold is preferred.

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. Pepper + macetop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,257 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Ham + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,475 recipes

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

  3. Ham + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,526 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

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

Pepper and mace barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,257 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

Rump steak
Forms the meaty base that becomes tender during the long, slow bake.
Pigeons
Provide the main meat filling, cooking through in the enclosed pie.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture inside the birds as they cook.
Hard-boiled eggs
Add body and a firm, creamy texture to the filling.
Puff paste
Forms the flaky crust that encloses the filling and browns in the oven.
Ham
Adds savoury, salty flavour that seasons the pigeons as they cook.

The step that matters

Brush with egg yolk and milk, then return to the oven briefly. The egg wash promotes even browning and a glossy crust. Five minutes is enough to colour the pastry; longer risks drying or over-browning the top.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, egg, pepper, butter):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, egg, pepper, butter. 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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