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Broiled Pigeon

A pigeon roasted with clarified butter, bread crumbs, and a vinegar stock sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Broiled Pigeon

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the pigeon

  1. Clean the pigeon carefully, then divide and flatten it.

  2. Season with pepper, salt, and a little cayenne.

  3. Dip the pigeon in clarified butter, then coat with bread crumbs.

Broil and make the sauce

  1. Broil gently over a clear fire for about 30 minutes.

  2. Fry the chopped onion in ½ ounce of butter until soft.

  3. Add vinegar, pepper, and salt; boil until the pan is nearly dry.

  4. Stir in the stock and boil for an additional 5 minutes.

  5. Pour the sauce around the broiled pigeon before serving.

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. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Onion + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,226 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  4. Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

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

  5. Butter + oniontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Pigeon
Is the main protein, cooked whole after being divided and flattened for even heat.
Clarified butter
Coats the pigeon so it browns and stays moist under gentle broiling.
Bread crumbs
Form a crisp, golden coating on the outside of the pigeon.
Onion
Softened in butter to build a mild, savoury base for the sauce.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the sauce and balances its richness.
Stock
Provides liquid and savoury body for the reduced sauce.

The step that matters

Broil gently over a clear fire. Gentle, steady heat cooks the pigeon through while the breadcrumb coating browns slowly. Fierce heat would scorch the crumbs before the meat is tender.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Mustardfits about as well
  3. Tomatofits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, butter, bread, vinegar. 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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