PIGEONS, Roast.
Ingredients.—Pigeons, 3 oz. of butter, pepper and salt to taste. Trussing.—Pigeons, to be good, should be eaten fresh (if kept a little, the flavour goes off), and they should be drawn as soon as killed. Cut off the heads and necks, truss the wings over the backs, and cut off the toes at the first joint: previous to trussing, they should be carefully cleaned, as no bird requires so much washing. Mode.—Wipe the birds very dry, season them inside with pepper and salt, and put about ¾ oz. of butter into the body of each: this makes them moist. Place them at a bright fire, and baste them well the whole of the time they are cooking (they will be done enough in from 20 to 30 minutes); garnish with fried parsley, and serve with a tureen of parsley and butter. Bread sauce and gravy, the same as for roast fowl, are exceedingly nice accompaniments to roast pigeons, as also egg-sauce. Time.—From 20 minutes to ½ hour. Average cost, 6d. to 9d. each. Seasonable from April to September; but in the greatest perfection from Midsummer to Michaelmas.
ROAST PIGEON.
PIGEONS, Stewed.
Ingredients.—6 pigeons, a few slices of bacon, 3 oz. of butter, 2 tablespoonfuls of minced parsley, sufficient stock to cover the pigeons, thickening of butter and flour, 1 tablespoonful of mushroom ketchup, 1 tablespoonful of port wine. Mode.—Empty and clean the pigeons thoroughly, mince the livers, add to these the parsley and butter, and put it into the insides of the birds. Truss them with the legs inward, and put them into a stewpan, with a few slices of bacon placed under and over them; add the stock, and stew gently for rather more than ½ hour. Dish the pigeons, strain the gravy, thicken it with butter and flour, add the ketchup and port wine, give one boil, pour over the pigeons, and serve. Time.—Rather more than ½ hour. Average cost, 6d. to 9d. each. Sufficient for 4 or 5 persons. Seasonable from April to September.
PIKE, Baked.
Ingredients.—1 or 2 pike, a nice delicate stuffing (see [Forcemeats]), 1 egg, bread-crumbs, ¼ lb. butter. Mode.—Scale the fish, take out the gills, wash, and wipe it thoroughly dry; stuff it with forcemeat, sew it up, and fasten the tail in the mouth by means of a skewer; brush it over with egg, sprinkle with bread-crumbs, and baste with butter, before putting it in the oven, which must be well heated. When the pike is of a nice brown colour, cover it with buttered paper, as the outside would become too dry. If 2 are dressed, a little variety may be made by making one of them green with a little chopped parsley mixed with the bread-crumbs. Serve anchovy or Dutch sauce, and plain melted butter with it. Time.—According to size, 1 hour, more or less. Average cost.—Seldom bought. Seasonable from September to March.
Note.—Pike à la genévése may be stewed in the same manner as salmon à la genévése.