Pigeons (a la St. Menehould)

Ingredients

• an ounce of butter
• an ounce of flour
• half a pint of milk
• a bunch of parsley
• a sprig of thyme
• a bay leaf
• two moderate-sized onions
• a carrot
• a parsnip
• a little salt
• a little pepper
• grated nutmeg

Method

1. 1

   Mix butter and flour over heat, add milk and vegetables, and season.

2. 2

   Stew pigeons until done, coat with egg and breadcrumbs, and fry until colored.

3. 3

   Serve with sauce.

As published

This recipe was extracted from Cassell's dictionary of cookery (1892) by Cassell & Company, page 1191. The excerpt below is the record exactly as published.

a little pepper, chopped parsley, minced onion, and powdered sage. Put in potatoes again, and repeat until the dish is full, remembering always that the topmost layer must consist of potatoes. Pour half a cujjful of boiling stock or water over the whole, and bake in a well-heated oven. Turn the mould upon a hot dish, brown the top with a salamander, and serve. A large handful of parsley, two sage-leaves, two onions, and a tea- spoonful of pepper, will season this dish. The amount of salt required must be regulated by the quality of the bacon. Time to bake, two hom-s. Probable cost, 2s. Sufficient for three or four persons. Pig's Liver, Baked in a Caul.— Wash and soak the liver until it is quite free from blood. Divide it into halves, horizontally, without separating the two pieces, and laj^ it open on a dish. Sprinkle pepper and salt on it, pour over it two ounces of clarified butter, and let it lie for twenty minutes. Spread evenly over it a layer of forcemeat, a quai-ter of an inch in thickness, close the liver, and wrap it in some pig's caul, or " leaf," which has been soaked in cold water, drained, and di-ied in a soft cloth. Put the roU in a deep dish, with a slice of fat bacon under and over it, and bake in a moderate oven. When it is done enough take it out of its covering, and serve on a hot dish, with the gravy which has flowed from it, mixed wich a Little lemon-juice. The force- meat may be made as follo^«« ; — Mince half a pound of lean ham, and mix with it half a poimd of fat bacon, four ounces of butter, half a dozen chopped onions, a table-spoonful of chopped parsley, a quarter of a tea-spoonful of PIG ( 559 ) PIG powdered thjine, a grated nutmeg, and a little pepper. Pound these ingredients together, and be sure that they are thoroughly blended. Time to bake the liver, one hour and a half. Probable cost, Is. 6d. Sufficient for three or four persons. Pig's Liver, Fried. — Soak the liver of a freshly-killed pig, and cut it into slices less than halt" an inch thick. Sprinkle a little pepper and salt over these, and fry them in hot fat Tintil they are brightly browned on both sides. Take them up, put them on a hot dish, and mLx a tea-spoonful of flour smoothly with the butter in which they were fried. INIoisten with two table-spoonfuls of boiling stock or water and two table-spoonfuls of claret. Stir the g'ravy over the hie until the sauce is on the point of boiling, add pepper and salt, if required, and pour it over the liver: serve very hot. If liked, one or two sliced onions may be fried with the liver. Time to fry the liver, a quarter of an hour-. Probable cost, Is. 2d. Sufficient for two or three persons. Pig's Pettitoes, or Sucking Pig's Feet, Fried in Batter.— Make a frying batter as follows : — Mix five ounces of flour smoothly with a gill of water and a little salt. Add the weU-beaten yolks of two eggs, mixed with two table-spoonfuls of Lucca oil ; beat the batter for five or six minutes, then put it aside for an hour. It ought to be as thick as custard. A few minutes before it is wanted, stir in the whites of the eggs, whisked to a firm froth. Clean the pettitoes thoroughly. Boil them gently in as much broth or water as will cover them, until they are tender. Take them up, dry them well, split them open, dip them into the batter, and fry them in hot butter until they are lightly browned. Serve on a neatly-folded napkin. Time to boil the pettitoes, from twenty to thii-ty minutes ; to fry, ten minutes. Probable cost, uncertain, pig's pettitoes being genei-ally sold with the pig. Sufficient for two or three persons. Pig's Pettitoes, Stewed.— Cleanse a set of pettitoes thoroughly, and put them into a stewpan, with the heart, the liver, a thin slice of bacon, six or eight peppercorns, a sprig of thyme, half a blade of mace, and as much broth or water as wiU cover the whole. Simmer gently for a quarter of an hour, then take out the heart and the liver, and mince them finely. Leave the feet until they are tender — they will require to be simmered from twenty to thirty minutes, counting from the time when they first reach the boiling-point. When they are done enough, put the mince back into the stew- pan, with a little pepper and salt, a piece of butter roUed in flour, and a table-spoonful of cream. Shake the saucepan over the fire for five or six minutes. Serve the mince in the sauce on a hot dish, split the feet, lay them upon the mince, and garnish ^vith toasted sippets. The pettitoes are generally sold with the pig. Sufficient for two or three persons. Pigs' Tongues. — Trim six or eight pigs' tongues neatly at the root, and rub them well with moist sugar. Leave them for twenty-four hours ; then rub into them a powder, made of four oimces of common salt, two ounces of bay salt, and half an ounce of saltpetre. Turn them daily. They will be ready for use in ten days. If liked, they may be put into sausage-skins, dried, and smoked. Sufficient for one or two persons. Pigeons. — Tame pigeons should be cooked as soon as possible after they are killed, as they very quickly lose their flavour. Wood pigeons and rock pigeons, on the contrary, should be allowed to hang a few days before they are dressed. Although these birds may be said to be in season all the year round, they are at their best from Midsummer to Michaelmas. In choosing them, it should be remembered that dark-coloui-ed bu'ds are thought to possess the highest flavour, and Hght-coloured birds to be the most delicate, "i'oung birds are, of course, alwaj's to be preferred to old ones. When the legs are large and deeply coloured, the pigeon is old, and will very likely be tough. House pigeons are the best, and wood pigeons the largest. Pock pigeons are inferior in quality to both the others. Pigeons (a la St. Menehould). — Mix an ounce of butter and flour smoothly together over a moderate flre. Add haK a pint of milk, a bunch of parsley, a sprig of thyme, a baj-- leaf, two moderate-sized onions, a carrot, and a parsnip, all sliced, and a little salt, pepper, and grated nutmeg

Cook this with the app: pantry check, scaling, and the assistant.