Name: Roast Pigeons
Ingredients: Pigeons (young); Lard; ⅓ cup claret; ¼ teaspoon ground cloves

Roast Pigeons

Ingredients

Pigeons (young)
Lard
⅓ cup claret
¼ teaspoon ground cloves

Directions

Lard the pigeons and roast them like partridges.
Make the gravy similarly, adding ground cloves and claret.
Ensure the pigeons are young for the best flavor.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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: The main meat, which is lean and cooks to tender, rich flavor when young.
Lard: Adds fat that keeps the lean pigeon meat moist and helps the skin brown in roasting.
Claret: Adds acidity and fruity depth to the gravy.
Ground cloves: Adds warm, aromatic spice flavor to the gravy.

“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.