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Pigeons Aux Petits Pois

A stew of pigeons cooked with butter, bacon, flour, broth, peas, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 29,058 recipes mention both. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓

Pigeons Aux Petits Pois

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the pigeons

  1. Prepare the pigeons by returning their livers into their bodies and trussing them with legs inside.

  2. Pick and sear the pigeons, then place a bit of butter in a stewpan.

  3. Let the pigeons stiffen in the butter, then remove them.

Make the ragout

  1. Cut the petit lard into large dice and steep it for half an hour.

  2. Pass the lard in the butter to give it a nice color, then drain it.

  3. Add 1 tablespoon of flour to the butter to make a roux, keeping it very white.

  4. Return the pigeons and lard to the roux, turning them to coat.

  5. Moisten gradually with bouillon until it reaches a sauce consistency, then bring to a boil.

  6. Season with parsley, young onions, bay leaf, garlic, and clove.

Simmer and serve

  1. Simmer the mixture, and when half done, add 1 quart of young peas, shaking often.

  2. If the sauce is too thin when done, drain the pigeons and reduce the sauce.

  3. If needed, add a little salt, skim, and dish the pigeons, masking them with the ragout of peas and petit lard.

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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  2. Parsley + garlictop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together9,308 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Parsley + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together6,768 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Parsley + oniontop 9% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together25,843 recipes

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

  5. Clove + garlictop 10% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together11,368 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

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 is seared and then gently braised in the sauce.
Butter
Carries the searing and browning of the pigeons and lard, adding richness and flavor.
Petit lard (bacon)
Adds savory, salty fat and flavor to the sauce and ragout.
Flour
Thickens the sauce into a roux with the butter.
Bouillon (broth)
Forms the liquid that becomes the sauce as it reduces and thickens.
Young peas
Add sweetness and fresh texture to the finished ragout.

The step that matters

Keeping the roux very white. Cooking the flour and butter only briefly keeps the roux pale, so it thickens without browning or tasting toasted. Lumps are avoided by adding the bouillon gradually while stirring.

Flavor stand-ins for the peas

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, parsley, onion, clove, garlic):

  1. Chickpeabetter flavor fit
  2. Lentilsbetter flavor fit
  3. Cashew nutbetter flavor fit
  4. Peasthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, parsley, onion, clove, garlic. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“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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