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Stewed Pigeons

A stew of pigeons cooked with ham, lard, carrot, shallots, herbs, Port wine, and chili vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Stewed Pigeons

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the pan

  1. Cover the bottom of a stew pan with equal portions of dressed ham and fresh lard.

  2. Add the sliced carrot, chopped shallots, parsley, basil, and thyme.

  3. Place the pigeons on top and cover their breasts with the fat from the ham.

Cook

  1. When the sauce is nearly boiling, place the pan on hot coals.

  2. Add the Port wine and chili vinegar, then cover the top with coals.

  3. Let it simmer gently for 45 minutes.

Finish and serve

  1. Drain the birds from the sauce, strain the sauce, and pour it hot over the pigeons 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. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,053 recipes

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

  3. Basil + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,768 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  4. Shallot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,737 recipes

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

  5. Shallot + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,476 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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 becomes tender during the slow, covered simmer.
Fresh lard
Adds richness and fat that carries flavour and keeps the meat moist.
Dressed ham
Lends savoury, salty flavour to the base and to the sauce.
Port wine
Adds sweetness and depth to the sauce as it reduces.
Shallots
Build a mild, aromatic sweetness that flavours the sauce.
Chili vinegar
Adds sharp acidity that brightens the rich sauce.

The step that matters

Keeping the simmer gentle. Gentle heat under a covered lid lets the tough muscle fibres of the birds soften slowly. A hard boil would toughen the meat and reduce the sauce too quickly.

Swap the basil

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, carrot, shallot, parsley, thyme, port wine, vinegar):

  1. Marjoramfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Capersfits better
  4. Basilthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, carrot, shallot, parsley, thyme, port wine, 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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