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Pigeons, Piquant
Slice a large onion and put it into a shallow dish with two bay-leaves, 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 liver 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, about an hour. Probable cost, 2s. Sufficient for two persons.
A stewed pigeon dish built on an acid marinade, which is the whole point: the vinegar and juniper are there to tame birds that may be tough and strongly flavoured. A few of the instructions need translating, and one timing contradicts itself.
- Marinate coldThe original assumes a cool larder. Marinate the birds in the refrigerator, covered, turning and basting twice a day as directed; two days is fine for young squab, four for older wood pigeon.
- A quarter of a pintIn an imperial British book that is 5 fl oz, about two-thirds of a US cup. The "cupful of stock" later is roughly 8 fl oz. Neither is critical — the sauce should just come partway up the birds.
- Which pigeonFarmed squab, sold at 12–16 oz, is tender and needs the shorter end of every timing. Shot wood pigeon is much leaner, darker and tougher, and is what the note about "old" birds refers to. Two squab feed two people; wood pigeon breasts are small, so allow more.
- LardingLarding needles and back fat are now specialty items. Draping the breasts with thin sheets of pork back fat or unsmoked streaky bacon, tied on, does the same job for a lean bird in a covered pan.
- Fat baconThis means unsmoked fat bacon or salt pork, not modern cured smoked rashers. Smoked bacon will dominate the juniper and lemon; use pancetta or salt pork if you can get it, and taste before adding salt.
- The liversThe birds' livers thicken and enrich the sauce as they break down. If your pigeons come without giblets, a couple of chicken livers stand in. Do not let them boil hard, or they turn grainy.
- Moderate fireFor the initial browning, a moderate heat that still colours the birds in a few minutes rather than slowly rendering them. For the stew, the barest simmer with the lid on.
- The contradictory timingThe method says half an hour, the footnote says about an hour. Squab is done at 25–30 minutes; an older bird genuinely wants the full hour or more. Test by twisting a leg — it should feel loose at the joint.
- YieldTwo servings, as stated. Serve with something to absorb the sauce: plain boiled potatoes, or fried bread, a common accompaniment to game birds of the period.
"Piquant" in Victorian cookery books often signals vinegar, and vinegar in a game recipe frequently suggests an old bird. Pigeons kept in a dovecote were harvested young as squab in summer, but the adult birds ended up on the table too, and a two- to four-day steep in vinegar, onion and juniper was one remedy for muscle that had done a great deal of flying — a technique of the kind used across European game cookery. Juniper berries in particular are a long-standing partner to dark game meat and are still the defining note in this style of dish. Cassell's Dictionary of Cookery, compiled in the 1870s and reissued for decades after, gives the probable cost as two shillings, which places the dish in reach of a modest household — pigeon was cheap protein in a way it emphatically is not today, when squab is a restaurant ingredient.