Truss your pigeons as for boiling. Take pepper, salt, cloves, mace, some sweet-herbs, a little grated bread, and the liver of the birds chopped very fine; roll these up in a bit of butter, put it in the stomach of the pigeons, and tie up both ends. Make some butter hot in your stewpan, fry the pigeons in it till they are brown all over, putting to them two or three blades of mace, a few peppercorns, and one shalot. Take them out of the liquor, dust a little flour into the stewpan, shaking it about till it is brown. Have ready a quart of small gravy and a glass of white wine; let it just boil up: strain out all the spice, and put the gravy and pigeons into the stewpan. Let them simmer over the fire two hours; put in some pickled mushrooms, a little lemon juice, a spoonful of ketchup, a few truffles and morels. Dish and send to table with bits of bacon grilled. Some persons add forcemeat balls, but they are very rich without.
Pigeons, to stew. No. 2.
Shred the livers and gizzards, with as much suet as there is meat; season with pepper, salt, parsley, and thyme, shred small; fill the pigeons with this stuffing; lay them in the stewpan, breasts downward, with as much strong broth as will cover them. Add pepper, salt, and onion, and two thin rashers of bacon. Cover them close; let them stew two hours or more, till the liquor is reduced to one half, and looks like gravy, and the pigeons are tender; then put them in a dish with sippets. If you have no strong broth, you may stew in water; but you must not put so much water as broth, and they must stew more slowly.
Pigeons, to stew. No. 3.
Cut six pigeons with giblets into quarters, and put them into a stewpan, with two blades of mace, salt, pepper, and just water sufficient to stew them without burning. When tender, thicken the liquor with the yolk of an egg and three spoonfuls of fresh cream, a little shred thyme, parsley, and a bit of butter. Shake all together, and garnish with lemon.
Pigeons, biscuit of.
Wash, clean, and parboil, your pigeons, and stew them in strong broth. Have a ragout made for them of strong gravy, with artichoke bottoms and onions, seasoning them with the juice of lemons, and lemons diced, truffles, mushrooms, morels, and bacon cut as for lard. Pour the broth into a dish with dried sippets, and, after placing your pigeons, pour on the ragout. Garnish with scalded parsley, lemons, and beet-root.
Pigeons, en compote. No. 1.
The pigeons must be young and white, and the inside entirely taken out. Let none of the heart or liver remain, which is apt to render them bitter. Make some forcemeat of veal, and fill the pigeons with it; then put them in a braise, with some bacon, a slice of lemon, a little thyme, and bay-leaf, and let them stew gently for an hour. The sauce is made of cucumbers and mushrooms, and they must be sweated in a little butter till tender; then strain it off the butter, and put in some strong gravy and a little flour to thicken it. Lastly, add the yolks of two eggs and a little good cream, which, when put to it, must be well stirred, and not suffered to boil, as it would curdle and spoil the sauce.