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Pigeon and Cabbage Rolls
Take two pigeons, two cabbages, four slices of fried bacon, an ounce of butter, a large wineglassful of sherry, and some gravy. Truss your pigeons and cook them in butter for ten minutes in a fireproof dish. Then take them out, cut them into neat pieces. Meanwhile have the cabbages boiled in salted water. Drain them. Cut them in small pieces and roll some up in each slice of bacon; lay the pigeons on top, pouring over them the liquor they were cooked in and half the wine. Put all in the oven for ten minutes--pour in the rest of the wine and leave for another ten minutes before serving. If you have stock to add to this it is an improvement, or put half a teaspoonful of meat extract to half a pint of water.
A two-stage braise: the birds are browned, jointed, then finished in the oven over cabbage-and-bacon parcels. The hinge is the age of the pigeon — the timings here only work for young, tender birds.
- PigeonThis assumes young squab of roughly 12-16 oz whole, which is what a butcher or game dealer sells today as "squab pigeon." Older wood pigeon, sold whole or as breasts, is tough at these times and needs an hour or more of moist braising; if that is what you have, treat the recipe as a flavouring scheme rather than a schedule.
- Oven heatNo temperature is given. A hot-ish oven, 400F, suits the twenty minutes of finishing described; lower and the wine will not reduce in the time allowed.
- WineglassfulA period wineglass is about 2 fl oz, and "a large wineglassful" is usually read as 3 to 4 fl oz. Half goes in at the start, half at the second stage, so measure once and split it.
- Fireproof dishA flameproof casserole or heavy sauté pan that can go from burner to oven; the recipe uses the same dish first on the stove and then in the oven.
- BaconUse streaky rashers, not thick-cut slices, or they will not roll. Fry them only until the fat renders and they are still pliable — fully crisp bacon shatters instead of wrapping.
- CabbageBoil until just tender and then drain hard, pressing the water out. Wet cabbage will thin the wine and gravy into something pale and loose.
- Meat extractThe half-teaspoon in half a pint of water is Bovril or a similar concentrated beef extract; a concentrated stock paste does the same job. Real stock is better, as the recipe says.
- DonenessSince the birds are jointed before the oven stage, check the thickest pieces rather than trusting the clock. Pigeon is commonly served with the breast pink; the legs and thighs should be cooked through.
- YieldTwo pigeons and two cabbages feed two generously, or four as part of a larger meal with potatoes.
The Belgian Cook Book was compiled in 1915 by Mrs. Brian Luck from recipes given by Belgian refugees who had fled to Britain after the German invasion, and it was sold in aid of relief funds — which is why the dishes are domestic and thrifty rather than restaurant fare. Pigeon and cabbage is a long-standing pairing across northern France and Belgium, close kin to the French perdreaux aux choux, in which small game birds are braised on a bed of cabbage with bacon or salt pork to supply the fat the lean birds lack. Pigeons are often said to have been kept in Flemish villages, and cabbage was the winter vegetable, so the combination is less a chef's invention than what a household happened to have. The underlying method — brown, joint, and finish over cabbage — is the older bones of the dish.