Name: Epergne Stewed Pigeons
Ingredients: Pigeons; Butter; Gravy; Currant Jelly; Green Peas; Vegetables

Why it works: Butter and peas are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,887 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

Epergne Stewed Pigeons

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the pigeons by cleaning and plucking them.
In a pot, melt butter and brown the pigeons on all sides.
Add gravy and simmer until the pigeons are cooked through.
Serve with currant jelly and green peas on the side.
Accompany with assorted vegetables.

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.

Butter + peastop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,887 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Butter + curranttop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,856 recipes

Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
Currant + peastop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).