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To Stew Pigeons

A stew of pigeons cooked with gravy, cider, wine, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,686 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

To Stew Pigeons

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare and brown

  1. Truss the pigeons neatly and season them inside with pepper, nutmeg, and cloves.

  2. Fry the pigeons in butter until browned.

Stew and finish

  1. Place the pigeons in a stew-pan with 4 cups of gravy and ¼ cup of cider.

  2. Stew the pigeons until tender.

  3. Add a glass of white wine.

  4. Thicken the gravy with butter rolled in flour.

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. Nutmeg + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Cider + white winetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together194 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity).

  4. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  5. Nutmeg + flourtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, 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 becomes tender through slow stewing in liquid.
Butter
Fries the pigeons to brown them, adding color and a rich, savory flavor.
Gravy
Forms the stewing liquid that keeps the pigeons moist and carries the flavor.
Butter rolled in flour
Thickens the gravy, giving it body as the flour starch sets with heat.
White wine
Adds acidity and aroma that brighten the rich, savory stew.

The step that matters

Stew the pigeons until tender. Pigeon meat is lean and firm, so it needs long, gentle simmering in liquid to break down connective tissue. Stewing too hard or too briefly leaves it tough or dry.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, nutmeg, butter, cider, white wine, flour):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Thymefits about as well
  3. Clovethe original
  4. Allspicefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, nutmeg, butter, cider, white wine, flour. 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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