Skip to main content
Main

Pigeons Rotis

Pigeons Rotis is a roasted pigeon dish wrapped in vine leaves and bacon, served with watercress and gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
Jump to recipe ↓

Pigeons Rotis

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Truss the pigeons carefully.

  2. Wrap each pigeon in two vine leaves and cover with thin slices of bacon.

Roast and serve

  1. Roast for 30 minutes, basting with their own gravy.

  2. Serve on a bed of watercress, with gravy in a sauce-boat.

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
Provide the main meat, which cooks through in a short roast.
Thin slices of bacon
Baste the birds with fat, keeping the lean meat moist and adding savour as it renders.
Vine leaves
Wrap the birds to shield them and hold in moisture during roasting.

The step that matters

Basting with their own gravy. Spooning the pan juices back over the birds keeps the lean meat moist and builds a glossy, flavourful crust while it roasts.

“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.

You might also like