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PIGEONS, STEWED, WITH GREEN PEAS (another way)
Prepare the pigeons, and brown them in butter, as in the last recipe. Take them up, drain them, and cut them into halves lengthwise. Put them side by side in a stewpan with two ounces of butter rolled in flour. When this is dissolved, put in a pint of freshly-gathered young green peas, and a table-spoonful of nicely-seasoned veal stock. Cover the saucepan closely, and let the pigeons stew very gently until they and the peas are done enough, moving the pan about occasionally to prevent its contents burning. Serve the birds on a hot dish with the sauce and vegetables arranged around them. Time, twenty minutes to stew the pigeons. Probable cost, 2s. 8d. Sufficient for two or three persons.
A short braise that depends on the birds and the peas cooking in almost no liquid. The main adjustment is to the birds themselves, which are larger and tougher than the squabs Cassell assumed.
- What "pigeon" means hereRecipes of this kind generally suppose young, tender birds, small enough to be done in twenty minutes; farmed squab (around a pound) behaves the same way. An older wood pigeon or supermarket pigeon breast does not, and will need either much longer, gentler cooking or to be reduced to breasts seared separately and added at the end.
- "As in the last recipe"The cross-reference is to the preparation and browning of the whole birds in butter given in the preceding recipe, which is not reproduced here. Brown them all over over moderate heat until coloured.
- Butter rolled in flourThe same principle as beurre manie: 2 oz butter worked or dredged with flour. It melts into the pan juices and thickens them as the birds stew, so no separate roux is needed.
- A tablespoonful of stock is not a typoThe dish is meant to steam in the moisture from the peas and birds, not to swim. If your pan is wide or thin-bottomed, add stock a spoonful at a time only if the pan threatens to dry; too much and the sauce will not cling.
- A pint of peasAn imperial pint by volume, about 2 1/2 US cups shelled, or roughly 10-12 oz. Frozen petits pois work but go in for the final four or five minutes only; the original assumes peas fresh enough to still be sweet.
- Heat and timingTwenty minutes of very gentle stewing over the lowest useful flame, with the lid tight. Keep it at a bare tremble rather than a simmer, and shake the pan rather than stirring, so the halved birds hold together.
- DonenessPigeon overcooked dries and turns liverish, so take the pan off as soon as the birds and peas are done enough; note that this covered stew will cook the halved birds through rather than leaving them pink.
- Yield and seasoningTwo to three servings, as stated. The only seasoning in the recipe comes from the "nicely-seasoned" stock, so taste and salt the sauce before serving; a little mint or a strip of lettuce in with the peas is period-appropriate.
Pigeons with green peas is one of the fixed points of the English kitchen calendar: both were at their best in early summer, and eighteenth- and nineteenth-century cookery books print the pairing over and over, stewed, braised or baked in a pie. Domestic pigeons were a genuinely cheap meat for anyone with access to a dovecote, and squab was killed young, before the birds could fly and toughen. Cassell's habit of giving a "probable cost" -- 2s. 8d. here -- is a reminder that this was a book for households budgeting carefully. That the volume offers an "another way" version at all shows how routine the dish was: not a special occasion, just what you did with pigeons in June.