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Pigeons, Thrushes, Larks, Ortolans (Other small birds are trussed)
522. And other small birds, are trussed and dressed like partridges, and served with the same crumbs, sauce, and gravy. They are sometimes dipped in egg and crumbs before roasting. From ten to fifteen minutes will roast any of them, except the pigeon, which will take from eighteen to twenty minutes. All should be well basted with butter or dripping.
The method here is a cross-reference: the birds are trussed, roasted and sauced exactly as the book's partridge entry directs, with only the timings changed. The obstacle is not technique but the birds themselves.
- OrtolansThe ortolan bunting is a protected species across Europe. Trapping, sale and consumption have been prohibited for decades, and enforcement of the ban has been tightened repeatedly since. There is no lawful way to obtain one.
- Thrushes and larksSongbirds of this kind are protected under modern wild bird legislation in Britain and throughout the EU. Taking, killing or selling them is an offence, and they are not available from any legitimate supplier.
- What remains legalPigeon is the only bird named here that a cook can still buy. Farmed squab and wood pigeon are sold by game dealers and better butchers; use a current recipe written for them rather than adapting this entry.
- The cross-referenceThe instruction depends entirely on the preceding partridge recipe for trussing and for the crumbs, sauce and gravy it names without describing. Read as a standalone entry it gives no method at all.
- On the timingsTen to fifteen minutes suits birds of only a few ounces (the pigeon is set apart at eighteen to twenty) cooked at the fierce, closely tended heat of a nineteenth-century roast. The figures do not transfer to a modern oven without adjustment.
- Egg and crumbsThe entry offers dipping in beaten egg and breadcrumb before roasting as an option; the crust would slow moisture loss on flesh with almost no fat of its own, which is the same reasoning behind the instruction to baste well.