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Pigeons, Braised, with Mushrooms, Etc
Stuff three pigeons with good veal forcemeat, and truss them as if for boiling. Put one or two slices of fat bacon under and over the birds, and place with them, in a pan just large enough to contain them, a large onion fried in hot butter, a broken shank of veal, a bunch of parsley, a sprig of thyme, a blade of mace, a little pepper and salt, and a pint of good stock. Cover the preparation with buttered paper, press the lid of the saucepan closely down, and let the pigeons stew as gently as possible. Take them up, and keep them hot while the gravy is boiling quickly down to a jelly. Glaze them with this, and serve with stewed mushrooms or green peas. Time to braise, three-quarters of an hour. Probable cost, 3s. 6d. Sufficient for three persons.
A straightforward braise that depends on two things: gentle heat, and a gravy reduced hard enough to set. Everything else is assembly.
- The hinge: reduce the liquor to a glazeThe dish is finished by boiling the strained braising liquid down until it is syrupy and sticky enough to coat the birds. The broken veal shank is there for gelatine, so do not leave it out; without it the liquid reduces to something salty and thin rather than glossy. Skim the fat before the final reduction.
- PigeonsSquab (young farmed pigeon, about 12-16 oz each) suits the timing given. Wild wood pigeon is leaner and tougher, and often an older bird; it will generally want considerably longer and more liquid, or else only the breasts cooked quickly and served pink.
- Three-quarters of an hourConsistent with young birds cooked at a bare simmer, and the point of the buttered paper and tight lid is to keep the heat that low. Long overcooking dries the birds out. Note that these pigeons are stuffed, so the forcemeat must be cooked through whatever is done with the breast.
- Buttered paperA cartouche: a round of parchment, buttered on one side, pressed onto the surface under the lid. It slows evaporation and keeps the exposed tops of the birds moist. Foil works but does less for the surface.
- Veal forcemeatPeriod veal forcemeat is generally minced veal bound with breadcrumbs, suet or butter and egg, seasoned with lemon peel and herbs. Any well-seasoned pork or veal sausage stuffing does the same job; allow a couple of tablespoons per bird and do not pack it tight.
- A pint of stock, and the panAn imperial pint is 20 fl oz. "A pan just large enough to contain them" matters more than the exact volume: in too wide a pan the liquid will not come up the sides of the birds and will reduce before they are done.
- Mace and fat baconA blade of mace is a whole piece of the dried aril, not ground mace; remove it with the herbs. 'Fat bacon' here is barding fat -- back fat or fat streaky -- to keep the breasts from drying. The recipe does not specify smoked or unsmoked.
- Yield and costOne bird per person, as stated. The 3s. 6d. is a Victorian retail price and is of historical interest only.
Pigeon was for centuries a familiar source of meat in Britain, kept in dovecotes on estates and farms and cropped as squabs before the birds could fly ote pove was for much of its history a manorial privilege rather than a cheap meat available to all; by the time Cassell's was compiled the birds were a common enough butcher's item to warrant a number of recipes. Braising in a tightly closed pan with barding fat, a gelatinous veal bone and a paper cover is the standard nineteenth-century treatment for any small lean bird, and the final step of boiling the liquor "down to a jelly" and brushing it over the meat is the domestic version of the professional glaze of French kitchens. The pairing with mushrooms or green peas places it firmly in the older English repertoire, where stewed peas are often said to have been the accompaniment to pigeon in season.