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Pigeons, Roasted, Stuffed

Roasted pigeons stuffed with a butter, egg, nutmeg, parsley, and cracker crumb mixture.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Pigeons, Roasted, Stuffed

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 the filling

  1. Rub the pigeons inside and outside with coarse sea salt and let them stand for 30 minutes.

  2. In a bowl, stir together the butter and egg, then add salt, nutmeg, parsley, lemon peel (if using), and cracker crumbs.

  3. Let the filling stand for 8-10 minutes, then add enough milk to make a light dressing.

  4. For added flavor, mix in finely chopped giblets if desired.

Stuff and roast

  1. Fill the pigeon with the dressing by reaching under the skin at the neck and using a teaspoon.

  2. Tie the opening securely with twine, being careful not to prick the filled area.

  3. Cook in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) for 1.5 hours, using both hot radiators.

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. Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

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

  2. Nutmeg + parsleytop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,062 recipes

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

  3. Nutmeg + lemontop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,318 recipes

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

  4. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  5. Lemon + milktop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,053 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

Pigeons
Main protein; the meat is cooked whole around the stuffing.
Egg
Binds the butter and crumbs into a cohesive stuffing dressing.
Butter
Adds fat and richness to the stuffing, carrying flavor and moisture.
Cracker crumbs
Absorb moisture and give the stuffing body and structure.

The step that matters

Filling the pigeon without tearing the skin. Reaching under the skin at the neck and filling gently keeps the skin intact, so the dressing stays inside and the bird cooks evenly. Overfilling or pricking the filled area lets the stuffing leak and dry out during roasting.

“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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