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Pigeons, Escalopes of, with Truffles
Prepare the cases as above; sprinkle the slices with chopped truffle, and cover with pale aspic. Put a border of chopped aspic round the cases, with little rings or other devices of truffles, and small pieces of foie gras.
This is the tail end of a sequence: it assumes the previous entry has already given you cooked pigeon breasts sliced into escalopes and set into cases. Read it as an assembly and garnishing note for a cold buffet dish rather than a standalone recipe.
- "Prepare the cases as above"The instruction points back to a preceding entry, so the exact form of the cases is not recoverable from this page; in books of this type they may be small moulds, ramekins or paper cases. Without the preceding entry you need a cooked, cooled pigeon: roast or braise the birds, chill them thoroughly, then carve the breast into thin slices before any aspic goes near them.
- EscalopeHere it means simply a thin slice cut on the slant from the breast, not a pounded and fried cutlet. The slices should be even in thickness so the aspic sets around them at a uniform depth.
- Pale aspicA clarified, lightly coloured stock jelly, traditionally set with calf's foot or long-simmered veal bones. The recipe gives no quantities; with a strong pigeon or chicken stock, start from the gelatine maker's directions and test a spoonful on a cold plate, adding more if you need a jelly that will hold its shape yet stay tender on the tongue. Cool it to the point where it thickens slightly before pouring, or it will wash the truffle off the meat.
- Chopped aspicThe border is aspic set firm on a tray, then chopped with a wet knife into glittering fragments and spooned around the cases. It must be set hard before chopping or it turns to slush.
- TrufflesPreserved black truffles, sold in tins and bottles, were commonly used in kitchens of this period, sliced and cut with tiny cutters into the rings and devices mentioned. Fresh black truffle is the equivalent; jarred summer truffle is milder and cheaper. Truffle oil is not a substitute here, since the whole point is the visual pattern.
- Foie grasThe recipe asks only for small neat pieces; tinned pâté de foie gras was the form most readily bought at the time. Any firm liver parfait or terrine cuts cleanly if chilled hard first; dip the knife in hot water between cuts.
- Temperature and holdingThis is a cold dish that lives or dies on refrigeration. Set the cases in the fridge, garnish cold, and return them to the fridge until the moment of service. Aspic softens quickly at room temperature and a buffet table is not a cold larder.
- YieldThe recipe gives none. Two pigeons yield four breasts, which at a guess would fill about four small cases as a first course; scale by the case, not by the bird.
Escalopes in aspic belong to the garde-manger, the cold larder that a large late-Victorian kitchen might well keep as a separate department, and the language of the entry gives it away: cases, borders, rings and devices are the vocabulary of decorative cold work rather than of cooking. The style descends from the elaborate cold buffets codified by Carême earlier in the century and still standard in Escoffier's day, where clarified jelly served as both preservative glaze and glass through which a pattern of truffle could be admired. Pigeon appears constantly in books of this period because it was widely available, from dovecotes as well as the game dealer, and its small dark breasts sliced neatly to a size that suited these little moulded presentations. Truffle and foie gras mark the dish as company food: a modest bird lifted into the luxury register by two imported garnishes, both of which were available to Cassell's readers in tins.