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Pigeon Pie

A savory pie made with pigeon, beef, ham, eggs, stock, and puff pastry, finished with a stock jelly.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Ham and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,526 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Pigeon Pie

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Cut each pigeon into 4 pieces.

  2. Slice the beef thinly.

  3. Cut the ham into strips.

  4. Slice the hard-boiled eggs.

  5. Prepare a few scalded pigeon feet with toes cut off.

Assemble and bake

  1. Layer the pigeon, beef, ham, and egg in a pie dish, seasoning well.

  2. Pour in stock to fill the dish three-quarters full.

  3. Set aside the remaining stock.

  4. Cover with pastry.

  5. Brush pastry with egg yolk.

  6. Bake at 400 °F (200 °C) until the pastry rises.

  7. Lower the temperature to 300 °F (150 °C).

  8. Bake for about 1 hour.

Serve

  1. Before serving, pour the stock through the hole in the center of the pie.

  2. Place the feet upright as decoration.

  3. Serve hot or cold; if cold, the stock should set into a jelly.

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. Ham + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,526 recipes

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

  2. Ham + peppertop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,058 recipes

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

  3. Egg + peppertop 33% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together50,580 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Egg and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 50,580 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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 long slow bake.
Rump steak
Adds beefy flavour and firm meaty texture to the filling.
Ham or lean bacon
Adds salty, savoury flavour that complements the game meat.
Stock
Supplies moisture that keeps the filling juicy and sets into a jelly when cold.
Hard-boiled eggs
Add richness and a firm, mild texture to the filling.
Puff pastry
Forms a flaky, crisp crust that rises and browns in the hot oven.

The step that matters

Pour in stock to fill the dish three-quarters full. Enough liquid keeps the meat moist during long baking and creates the jelly when the pie is served cold. Too little stock leaves the filling dry.

“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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