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Pigeon Pie

A savory pie with pigeon, rump steak, butter, egg yolks, and puff pastry.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and meat are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,594 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Pigeon Pie

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

  2. In a pie dish, layer the rump steak at the bottom and season with cayenne pepper and salt.

Fill the pie

  1. Stuff each pigeon with a piece of butter rolled in seasoning and place them breast down.

  2. Add the yolks of the hard boiled eggs and force meat balls if using.

  3. Pour in the water or gravy.

Top and bake

  1. Cover with puff pastry and brush with egg wash.

  2. Decorate with pastry leaves and place the cleaned pigeon feet in the center, rubbing them with butter to prevent burning.

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 + meattop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,594 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Pepper + meattop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,777 recipes

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

  4. Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Egg + meattop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,432 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Rump steak
Forms the meaty base that cooks down and flavors the filling.
Pigeons
Provide the main meat, with the butter inside keeping them moist as they cook.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture, helping the birds stay tender while cooking.
Hard boiled egg yolks
Add richness and a creamy texture to the filling.
Puff pastry
Forms a flaky, layered crust that puffs and browns in the oven.

The step that matters

Covering the pigeons with pastry and browning the crust. Butter brushed on the pastry and egg wash help the crust brown evenly. Without them the pastry can stay pale or burn at the edges, and the pastry must be sealed well so steam stays in and cooks the filling.

“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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