Roast Pigeons
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the pigeons
Draw, singe, and wipe the pigeons.
Cut off the toes, scald, and skin the feet.
Truss the pigeons like a roast fowl, crossing the legs.
Roast
Heat the dripping in a tin and place the pigeons inside.
Put bacon on top and place vine leaves on each bird.
Roast for about 40 minutes, basting frequently.
Serve
Serve on thick toast or fried bread.
Garnish with watercress, browned crumbs, chip potatoes, and salad.
Serve with bread sauce and browned gravy.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Pigeons
- Provide the main meat, which cooks tender and juicy when roasted whole.
- Dripping
- Fat that conducts heat around the birds and promotes even browning.
- Fat bacon
- Bastes the birds with melting fat as it cooks, keeping the meat moist.
- Vine leaves
- Cover the birds, shielding the meat from direct heat and adding moisture and aroma.
The step that matters
Basting frequently during the roast. Spooning hot fat over the birds keeps the surface moist and promotes even browning, while the lean meat would otherwise dry out over about 40 minutes of roasting.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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