Cookery for every household

Prepare and truss the pigeons as for roasting (Recipe 1168). Melt the butter in a saucepan, when smoking hot put in the pigeons and turn them over and over until well browned on all sides. Then lift them out and put in the butter, the onions peeled, and the bacon cut in small pieces. Cook these over the fire for a few minutes, sprinkle with the flour and pour in the stock. Stir until boiling and skim well. Return the pigeons to this sauce along with the green peas and bunch of herbs. Season to taste, cover the saucepan and let all simmer slowly until the pigeons are tender. When ready, serve the pigeons in the centre of a hot dish, with the green peas and onions round. Time to stew, ½ to 1 hour. Sufficient for 4 persons. 1174. Pigeons with Rice (Pigeons au Ris) 3 pigeons. Boiling water. Flavouring vegetables. A bunch of herbs. \ lb. rice. 2 oz. butter. Seasoning. Singe, clean, and draw the pigeons, and truss them as for roasting with a needle and string. Put them into a saucepan with boiling water to cover them and a little salt. Bring to the boil and skim well. Add a small quantity of vegetables, carrot, onion and celery, cut in small pieces, and a small bunch of herbs, and simmer slowly until the pigeons are tender. Then wash the rice, put it into a saucepan with boiling water to cover it, boil 5 minutes, strain and rinse with cold water. Return the rice to the saucepan, add to it about 1½ pint strained liquor from the pigeons, and cook the rice in this until it is tender, but not broken. Add to it the butter, broken in small pieces, and season well with pepper and salt. . Pile the rice in the centre of a hot dish, cut the pigeons in halves and arrange them round. Note. — If liked, the rice may be mixed with a few green peas, tomato cut in small pieces, or a little ham. Time to cook, about 2 hours. Sufficient for 4 or 5 persons. 1175. Braised Pigeons with Spaghetti 3 small pigeons. 2 oz. ham or bacon. Flavouring vegetables. A bunch of herbs. Stock. 4 to 6 oz. spaghetti. 1 or 2 oz. butter. Seasoning. Singe, draw, and clean the pigeons, and truss them as for roasting with a needle and string. Then take a stewpan large enough to hold them and arrange in it a bed of vegetables, carrot, turnip, onion, and celery, cut in small pieces. Add to these the ham or bacon cut in small pieces, the bunch of herbs and enough stock to cover. Bring this to the boil and lay the pigeons on the top. Cover with greased paper and braise on the top of the stove or in the oven until the pigeons are nearly tender. Then remove them, cut them in halves and place them on a greased baking tin. Strain the stock in the stewpan, remove the grease and pour it over the pigeons. Then set the tin in a moderate oven and continue the cooking, basting frequently, until the pigeons are brown and the liquid reduced to a glaze. Have ready some nicely cooked spaghetti (see Recipe 1619), and add to it the butter. Arrange the pieces of pigeon neatly on a hot dish and put the spaghetti round. Time to braise, 1 to 1½ hours. Sufficient for 4 or 5 persons. 1176. Stuffed Pigeons with Mushrooms 2 pigeons. Forcemeat. 1 oz. butter or bacon fat. 2 table-sps. chopped onion. 1 dessert-sp. flour. \ pt. stock. 1 tea-sp. lemon juice. Seasoning. 1 cupful shred mushrooms.