Cassell's dictionary of cookery

Pigeons, Ragout of.— Pluck, singe, and draw a couple of young pigeons, cleanse and open the gizzards, and stew them with the livers in as much water as will cover them until they are done enough. Mince all finely, and mix with them their weight in finely-shred beef-suet and grated bread-crumbs. Add a table-spoonful of chopped parsley, a pinch of powdered thyme, and a little pepper, salt, and grated nutmeg. Moisten the forcemeat with a well-beaten egg and half an ounce of butter, and with it cover the yolks of two hard-boiled eggs, and put these balls inside the birds. Truss the pigeons securely, as if for boiling, and brown them in a little hot butter. Pour over them the liquid in which the gizzards were boiled, and add a sliced onion, a tea-spoonful of brown thickening, a glass of claret, a bunch of savoury herbs, and a little pepper, salt, and powdered mace. Simmer gently for twenty minutes, then strain the gravy, pour it back into the saucepan, put six or eight buttonmushrooms into it, stew a quarter of an hour longer, and serve. A few forcemeat balls stewed for eight or ten minutes in the gravy are a great improvement to this ragout. Probable cost, 2s., exclusive of the wine. Sufficient for two or three persons. Pigeons, Roast. — Pluck, singe, and draw a couple of young pigeons, and truss them firmly. Mince the livers, and mix with them two ounces of finely-grated bread-crumbs, two ounces of fresh butter, or, if preferred, finely-shred beef suet, a shallot finely minced, a tea-spoonful of shred parsley, and a little salt, pepper, and grated nutmeg. Fill the birds with this forcemeat, fasten a slice of fat bacon over the breast of each, and roast before a clear fire. Make a sauce by mixing a little water with the gravy which drops from the birds, and boiling it with a little thickening ; season it with pepper, salt, and chopped parsley. Pigeons are sometimes served on a toast, and brown gravy and bread sauce sent to table with them. Time to roast, half an hour. Probable cost of pigeons, 9d. to Is. 9d. each. Sufficient for two persons. Pigeons, Roast (another way). — Roasted pigeons require a brisk fire, and must be well done, and at the same time afford gravy when cut into. Roast the birds, with stuffing in the belly, prepared as follows : — Take the hvers and hearts of the pigeons, and about double the quantity of the fat of ham or bacon, and beat these ingredients in a mortar to a smooth paste. Moisten some crumb of bread with milk, then press out the milk through a napkin. Add chopped parsley, grated lemon-peel, black pepper, and salt ; unite these with white and yolk of egg beat together, divide the mass into equal portions, and stiiff the birds. As pigeons possess scarcely any fat, they are often while roasting basted with butter. By way of sauce, melt some butter with a little flour, moisten with veal consomme, and stir in some chopped PIG (564) PIG parsley. Sprinkle the pigeons with a little sauce, and then pour the sauce over them. Pigeons served with Water-Cress.