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Stuffed Pigeons

Pigeons stuffed with a forcemeat of cold fowl, sweetbread, truffles, mushrooms, bacon, pepper, and salt, then browned and stewed.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Truffle and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,900 recipes. Both carry 2,4-nonadienal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Stuffed Pigeons

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the pigeons

  1. Pluck and singe the pigeons, then empty them through a small opening in the side.

Make and stuff

  1. Make a light forcemeat with the cold fowl, sweetbread, truffles, mushrooms, and minced bacon, seasoned with pepper and salt, and bound with the beaten egg.

  2. Stuff the pigeons with the forcemeat.

Cook

  1. Brown the stuffed pigeons in butter in a stew-pan for 15 minutes.

  2. Add a ladleful of stock, cover the stew-pan, and stew slowly until cooked through.

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. Truffle + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,900 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  2. Mushroom + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

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

  3. Veal + truffletop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together815 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  4. Truffle + buttertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,209 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  5. Mushroom + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,580 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

Fine and full-grown pigeons
Form the whole dish, holding the stuffing while they cook through.
Remains of cold fowl
Provides the main body of the forcemeat, giving it substance and savour.
Veal sweetbread
Adds a soft, delicate texture to the forcemeat.
Truffles
Contribute a strong, earthy aroma to the stuffing.
Beaten egg
Binds the forcemeat so it holds together when stuffed and cooked.

The step that matters

Stew slowly until cooked through. Gentle, covered stewing with a little stock cooks the stuffed birds through without drying the meat. Rushing with high heat can toughen the flesh and leave the forcemeat undercooked at its centre.

“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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