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PIGEONS, STEWED (another way) (Truss four plump young pigeons)
Truss four plump young pigeons as if for boiling; cover their breasts with thin slices of fat bacon tied securely on with twine, and stew them in a little veal broth according to the directions given for STEWED PIGEONS. Whilst the pigeons are stewing, prepare a mixture of vegetables, such as French beans, carrots, turnips, and cauliflowers, and arrange so that they shall be done enough at the same time as the birds. Take a piece of the stale crumb of bread, and shape it neatly, making it three and a half inches high, the bottom part four inches square, and the top part two and a half inches square. Fry this in hot butter until it is lightly browned all over, then drain it from the fat, and fix it in the middle of a dish with paste made of the white of egg mixed smoothly with a little flour. Take up the pigeons, and lean one bird against each side of the piece of fried bread. Arrange the vegetables between the pigeons, so as to hide the bread entirely from view, and ornament the top with a cauliflower, or half a dozen Brussels sprouts. Pour a little white sauce over the pigeons only, and send a little more to table in a tureen. Time, about an hour to stew the pigeons. Probable cost of pigeons, from 9d. to 1s. 9d. each. Sufficient for four or five persons.
A Victorian dressed platter: the birds are props as much as dinner, propped against a fried bread pedestal and walled in with vegetables. The cooking itself is simple braising; the work is in the assembly.
- The birds"Plump young pigeons" means squab — farmed birds of about four weeks, 12-16 oz each, sold frozen by game dealers and some butchers. Wild wood pigeon is leaner and tougher and will not behave the same way in an hour's gentle stewing. Cornish game hens are a common modern stand-in if squab is unavailable.
- Trussed as if for boilingLegs drawn in tight against the body and tied, wings folded back, so the bird keeps a compact rounded shape rather than sprawling. It matters here because the finished birds have to sit upright and lean neatly against the bread.
- BardingThe fat bacon over the breast is insulation, not flavouring — squab breast is very lean and dries out fast. Use thin sheets of unsmoked fatback or streaky bacon and tie rather than skewer, since the twine comes off before plating.
- Veal brothA pale unroasted veal stock, mild and gelatinous. A light chicken stock is the practical substitute; avoid a dark roasted stock, which will muddy the white sauce and stain the birds.
- An hour is the outside limitA modern farmed squab braised gently is done in 35-45 minutes, and by an hour the breast is grey and dry. Cook until the thigh joint moves freely and the juices run clear, then hold the birds in a little warm broth while you assemble the platter.
- The fried bread socleThis is a socle — a carved plinth, tapering from a 4-inch square base to a 2½-inch top and 3½ inches tall. Cut it from a dense day-old white loaf; fresh bread will drink the butter and collapse. Fry over moderate heat, turning on every face, and drain well.
- The egg-white pasteWhite of egg beaten smooth with flour is glue, used to cement the socle to the dish so it does not skid. It is structural, not food, and it is not cooked — treat it as scaffolding and do not eat it.
- The vegetablesFrench beans, carrots, turnips and cauliflower cooked separately and timed to finish together, then packed around the base until the bread is hidden. Cook each to just tender and refresh; anything soft will slump and expose the plinth.
- The sauceA white sauce here is most likely made from the strained stewing broth thickened with a blond roux, though Victorian "white sauce" could also be milk-based. Sauce the birds only, as the recipe directs, and send the rest in a jug.
- Yield and the pricingFour or five servings as written. The costs are pre-decimal: 9d. to 1s. 9d. per bird, or roughly three-quarters of a shilling to just under two shillings, a note Cassell's included so a housekeeper could budget the dish before committing to it.
Pigeons were the cheap, endlessly available meat of the English kitchen for centuries — dovecotes were a standard feature of manor and farm, cropping squabs from the nest before they ever flew, and Cassell's gives them dozens of entries. What dates this particular version is not the bird but the presentation: the fried bread socle, borrowed from French service, was a device for giving height and architecture to a dish on the table, and cookery books of the 1870s-90s are full of these plinths, borders and cemented centrepieces made from bread, rice paste or suet. The point was that dinner should have a silhouette when it came through the door. Service à la russe, with plates carved and portioned out of sight, had been spreading since the 1850s-60s, and though socles of rice, bread and fat persisted in grand cuisine long afterwards, fewer and fewer domestic cooks had reason to build a four-inch pedestal for four small birds.