Pigeons with Olives-Breasts

This entree is dressed in the hollow of a cooked paste border (No. 10) cut into points and open-worked with a pastry cutter. The band intended for making the border should be cut out on a floured table as soon as it has been rolled; fasten it on a dish a quarter of an inch from the inside edge, spreading it slightly; egg it over with a brush and dry for a few hours. After this paste is dried, lay inside of it a wooden foundation covered with more of the same paste rolled out thin. Besides this, prepare a little raw chicken forcemeat (No. 89) mixed with an equal quantity of baked liver forcemeat (No. 80) pounded and passed through a tammy. Poach this forcemeat in a pyramidical mold rounded and smooth an inch and a half high, placed in a bain-marie; unmold this pyramid in the center of the dish, for it is intended to uphold the entree. Select a few dozen of the finest and largest Spanish olives procurable; stone and blanch them to stuff with foies-gras forcemeat (No. 78). Singe six young but large pigeons quite fleshy, fill the breasts with a spoonful of grated fat pork and fresh chopped truffle peelings; truss and cover with fat pork, then cook in some good stock; as soon as done remove to untruss; detach the breasts from the back, remove the two fillets from both breasts, suppress the skin, pare and take off the minions. Lay the six fillets from the left side in a small sautoir, mask them with a little espagnole sauce (No. 414) reduced with the pigeon stock and Madeira; cover and keep them hot. Pare the other six fillets, mask them also on the inside with a layer of baking forcemeat thickened with a little raw forcemeat, smooth well, and range these fillets in another small sautoir having a little half-glaze on the bottom to heat the forcemeat; warm it while glazing over with a brush. At the last moment unmold the pyramid, lay the fillets around alternating them, and all turned in the same direction standing almost upright. Dress a part of the olives in the center space formed by the circle on top of the pyramid, and range the others around the open-worked border. Cover the fillets lightly with the sauce, also the garnishings and serve more separately.