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Squab Pot Pie
Singe, and remove the heads and feet of six fat, fresh squabs. Draw, wipe neatly and cut into six pieces each. Place in a medium-sized saucepan half ounce melted butter, two finely chopped white onions, half a chopped green pepper and one ounce salt pork cut into small, square pieces; stir well with a wooden spoon until a nice light brown colour; then add the squabs and cook until they attain a good golden colour, being careful to mix with the spoon once in a while. Then gradually add two tablespoons flour, briskly mix for two minutes; add one quart hot broth or hot water and mix well again for two minutes. Add one carrot cut in quarters, three leeks, tied up with four branches parsley and two bay leaves. Season with a teaspoon salt and half teaspoon white pepper, mix well for another minute; cover the pan and let gently simmer for twenty-five minutes. Remove the tied-up herbs and carrots. Skim the fat from the surface of the broth, etc. Transfer the preparation into a deep pie dish. Sprinkle a tablespoon chopped parsley over; cover the pie with a pie paste trim well all around, then set in a hot oven to bake for seventeen minutes. Remove and serve.
A braise finished under a pastry lid, in the French manner rather than the American biscuit-topped kind. Most of the work is done on the stove; the oven is only there to bake the crust.
- SquabA squab is a young domestic pigeon, about four weeks old, weighing roughly 12-16 oz dressed. Order from a game butcher or online; two Cornish hens quartered stand in reasonably for three squabs, though the meat is milder and paler.
- Drawing and singeingBirds bought today arrive drawn and plucked, so ignore the first sentence beyond the jointing. Each bird gives six pieces: two legs, two wing-breast portions, and the carcass split in two.
- Small weightsHalf an ounce of butter is one tablespoon. One ounce of salt pork is about two tablespoons, diced small; blanch it for a minute if it is very salty, since a teaspoon of added salt plus broth can push the finished dish over.
- Leeks and bouquetThree leeks means three whole white-and-pale-green stalks, trimmed, tied with the parsley and bay into a bundle so they lift out cleanly. They flavour the broth and are discarded with the carrots.
- A hot ovenThe book gives no temperature; 'hot' in this period is usually taken as somewhere around 400-450F. Seventeen minutes is enough only because the filling goes in already cooked and hot; the oven's whole job is to set and brown the pastry.
- Let the filling settleSkim the fat properly and let the filling stop steaming hard before the paste goes on, or the underside of the crust will slacken. Cut two vents in the lid.
- The sauceTwo tablespoons of flour to a quart of broth gives a thin, gravy-like sauce rather than a thick pie filling. If you want it to hold on a plate, reduce the broth further after the birds are cooked rather than adding more flour.
- YieldSix squabs feed six generously, or eight as part of a larger meal. Use a large deep dish; six jointed birds and a quart of broth make a good deal of filling.
The International Cook Book came from Alexander Filippini, long associated with Delmonico's in New York, and this recipe shows the house style plainly: a proper brown roux-based braise with salt pork, bouquet garni and a skimmed broth, then a pastry lid added almost as an afterthought. Squab was a standard market bird in American cities around 1900, raised commercially in lofts and sold young, before the flight muscles toughened; restaurant menus of the period list it alongside chicken and duckling rather than as a curiosity. Pot pie in this period could mean a stew with dumplings, a deep-dish pie, or as here a stew simply capped with paste. The green pepper is the American note in an otherwise French preparation, and hints at the book's wider claim to gather dishes from many kitchens under one cover.