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Squabs En Casserole

A casserole of squabs (young pigeons) browned, then braised in stock with ham, bacon fat, vegetables and pimientos.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,810 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Squabs En Casserole

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the squabs

  1. Clean and truss the squabs.

Make the sauce

  1. In a frying pan, heat the butter, bacon fat, and ham until hot.

  2. Brown the squabs quickly, then remove them to a casserole.

  3. Add flour to the fat in the pan and blend well.

  4. Stir in the salt, pepper, stock or water, parsley, onion, and celery.

  5. Cook for a few minutes, then pour the mixture over the squabs.

Braise and serve

  1. Cover the casserole and cook in a 300°F (150°C) oven for 2 to 4 hours, depending on the tenderness of the squabs.

  2. When nearly done, remove the parsley and celery, then add the sliced pimolas.

  3. Simmer on the stovetop for a few minutes 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 + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,810 recipes

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

  2. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  3. Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

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

  4. Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Parsley + oniontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 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

Squabs
Provide the meat that becomes tender through long, slow braising in liquid.
Butter
Adds richness and helps browning of the squabs in the pan.
Bacon fat
Carries flavour and helps brown the squabs before braising.
Flour
Blended into the fat to thicken the cooking liquid into a sauce.
Lean raw ham
Adds savoury, salty flavour to the fat used for browning.
Pimolas
Add sweet, mild flavour and colour to the finished sauce.

The step that matters

Browning the squabs quickly. Searing the surface in hot fat builds browned, savoury flavour through the Maillard reaction. Browning too slowly or too long can dry or toughen the skin before the braise begins.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (squab, butter, ham, flour, pepper, parsley, celery):

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Turnipfits better
  3. Shallotfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against squab, butter, ham, flour, pepper, parsley, celery. 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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