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Pigeons Au Court-bouillon

Pigeons au Court-Bouillon is a braised pigeon dish cooked with carrots, onions, parsley, garlic, peppercorns, bay leaf, bacon, sherry, and lemon.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,053 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Pigeons Au Court-bouillon

Ingredients

Directions

Braise

  1. In a large stewpan, layer the carrot, onion, parsley, garlic, peppercorns, salt, and bay leaf.

  2. Add thin slices of bacon on top.

  3. Place the pigeons over the bacon.

  4. Cover with more bacon.

  5. Pour in the sherry and cover the stewpan.

  6. Stew gently over low heat until the pigeons are very tender.

Rest and serve

  1. Remove the pigeons.

  2. Let them rest in the braise until half cold.

  3. Carefully place the pigeons on a dish.

  4. Pour a hot butter sauce over them, adding lemon juice.

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

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

  2. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Parsley + garlictop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,308 recipes

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

  4. Carrot + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,873 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Pigeons
Main protein; slow, gentle stewing softens connective tissue into tender meat.
Bacon
Adds fat and savoury flavour that seasons the pigeons as they braise.
Sherry
Forms the braising liquid and adds acidity and aroma to the meat.
Butter sauce
Adds richness and a glossy fat coating over the cooked pigeons.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the rich butter sauce.

The step that matters

Stew gently over low heat until the pigeons are very tender.. Gentle, low heat lets connective tissue break down slowly, while high heat would toughen the meat and dry out the birds.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (carrot, onion, parsley, garlic, sherry, butter, sauce):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Capersfits better
  3. Celeryfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against carrot, onion, parsley, garlic, sherry, butter, sauce. 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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