Cassell's dictionary of cookery

upon these, breast downwards, and put the yolk of a hard-boiled egg between each two half pigeons. Sprinkle some pepper and salt and a small quantity of grated nutmeg over the pigeons, put here and there upon them an ounce of butter broken into small pieces, lay on the top a small bay-leaf, and pour over the birds a cupful of nicely-seasoned stock sufficiently strong to form a jelly when cold. If there is any doubt about this, a dessert-spoonful of gelatine must be dissolved in the stock. Cover the pie with a thick crust, ornament prettily, brush over with beaten yolk of egg, put three of the feet, properly cleaned, in the middle of the crust, and bake the pie in a moderate oven. Time to bake, about an hour and a half. Probable cost, 4s., with pigeons at 9d. each. Sufficient for five or six persons. Pigeons, Piquant.— Slice a large onion and put it into a shallow dish with two bayleaves, twenty juniper berries, half a tea-spoonful of peppercorns, and a quarter of a pint of vinegar. Lay two pigeons in this marinade, and turn and baste them twice a day for two days. If the birds are old they will need to remain in the marinade a day or two longer. Take them up, wipe them dry, and lard the breasts evenly, then put them into a saucepan with an ounce of butter, and turn them about over a moderate fire until they are brightly and equally browned. Lift them out, stir a spoonful of flour in with the butter, and mix it briskly with a wooden spoon until it begins to colour, then add four ounces of fat bacon cut into small pieces, the hver of the birds, a cupful of stock or water, the strained juice of half a lemon with an inch or two of the rind, and a little pepper, salt, and grated nutmeg. Let this sauce boil, then put in the pigeons, cover them closely, and let them stew for half an hour. Serve the birds on a hot dish with the sauce poured round them. Time to stew, half an hour. Probable cost, 2s. Sufficient for two persons. Pigeon Pudding. — Line a puddingbasin with a good suet or butter crust. FiU it ■with a pound of rump steak cut into neat pieces and nicely seasoned, and two or three pigeons divided into halves, and prepared as for a pie. Add the yolks of four hard-boiled eggs, a small lump of butter, and a cupful of rather highly-seasoned gravy. Cover the pudding with pastry, tie it in a floured cloth, plunge it into boiling water, and let it boil quickly until done enough. Time to boil, an hour and a half. Probable cost, 4s., with pigeons at 9d. each. Sufficient for five or six persons. Pigeons, Pupton of. — Butter a piedish rather thickly, and line the inside with a highly-seasoned veal forcemeat about threequarters of an inch in thickness. Lay upon this three or four thin slices of fat bacon, three plump young pigeons split in halves and flattened, a blanched sweetbread cut into slices, an ox palate boiled tender and cut up small, a dozen asparagus tops, as many button mushrooms, and the yolks of four hard-boiled eggs. Cover the whole with a layer of forcemeat spread on the top like a pie-crust, and bake in a well-heated oven. Serve the pupton turned on a hot dish in a shape, with rich brown gravy poured round it. Time, one hour to bake. Probable cost, 6s. Sufficient for six or seven persons.