Home › The Principles of Cookery › Pigeons, Ragout Of

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-shredded beef suet and grated breadcrumbs. 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 button mushrooms into it, stew about half 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.