Pigeons, Stewed
INGREDIENTS for dish for 6 persons. -6 pigeons, a few slices of bacon, 3 oz. of butter, 2 tablespoon- , 2 tablespoonfuls of minced parsley, sufficient stock to cover the pigeons, thickening of butter and flour, 1 tablespoonful of mushroom ketchup, 1 tablespoonful of port wine. AVERAGE COST, 5s. 6d.
Empty and clean the pigeons thoroughly, mince the livers, add to these the parsley and butter, and put it into the insides of the birds. Truss them with the legs inward, and put them into a stewpan with a few slices of bacon placed under and over them add the stock, and stew gently for rather more than ½ hour. Dish the pigeons, strain the gravy, thicken it with butter and flour, add the ketchup and port wine, give one boil, pour over the pigeons, and serve.
TIME. Rather more than hour.
SEASONABLE from April to September.
A straightforward braise of whole birds over bacon, with the livers worked into a parsley butter stuffing. The gravy is finished off the heat of the birds, which is where most of the flavour lands.
- Cooking timeWhole young pigeons need roughly 30-40 minutes of gentle stewing to become tender; older birds take an hour or more. The liquid should barely tremble, never boil, or the breast meat tightens and dries.
- Sourcing the birdsSquab (young farmed pigeon) is what to buy, usually 12-16 oz each and sold oven-ready. Wild wood pigeon is leaner, tougher and better suited to the longer end of the time range; supermarket birds will not come with their livers, so ask a game dealer or substitute a little chicken liver.
- The stuffingMince the livers finely and mash them into softened butter with the parsley rather than melting the butter. A solid paste stays in the cavity and bastes the bird from inside as it renders.
- Thickening of butter and flourThis is beurre manie: equal weights of soft butter and plain flour kneaded to a paste, whisked into the strained gravy in small lumps. About 1 oz of each will thicken a pint of stock lightly.
- Mushroom ketchupNot tomato ketchup. It was a thin, dark, salty mushroom extract used as a savoury seasoning; a good mushroom ketchup is still sold, or use a teaspoon of soy or Worcestershire sauce with a little mushroom cooking liquor.
- Trussing"Legs inward" means tucking the thighs against the breast and tying so the birds hold a compact shape in the pan. Skip it if you prefer, but the birds will splay.
- BaconUse unsmoked streaky or, better, thin sheets of pork back fat. Modern smoked rashers will dominate the gravy and add noticeable salt, so taste before seasoning.
- Yield and servingOne bird per person, six in all. Serve with the gravy poured over, plus something to absorb it: mashed potato, fried bread croutes in the older manner, or plain boiled rice.
- Cost noteThe "average cost, 5s. 6d." is a Victorian household figure for the whole dish and has no useful modern equivalent.
Pigeon was everyday meat in Britain for centuries before it became a restaurant luxury. Country houses and even modest farms kept dovecotes, and young birds taken from the nest before they had flown were reliably tender and available when little other fresh meat was. Mrs Beeton's household books are full of them, stewed, roasted, potted, and baked in pies, and the "seasonable from April to September" note reflects the squab-raising season rather than any wild shooting calendar. The finish here, a strained gravy thickened with butter and flour and sharpened with mushroom ketchup and port, is the standard Victorian brown sauce formula; the port and ketchup do the work that stock reduction does in a modern kitchen.