Soyer's standard cookery

Season with salt, black pepper, cayenne and a little powdered mace, and moisten the forcemeat with one well-beaten egg and a little milk; mix it thoroughly and use at once, so that it may not become dry. Pigeon Pie. Cut two pigeons into pieces of convenient size and fry them in two ounces of clarified dripping. Take them out of the pan and put them aside to cool. Fry a small onion (sliced) until lightly browned in the dripping used to cook the birds. Then stir in a small bunch of sweet herbs and parsley (tied together), one teaspoonful of tarragon vinegar and season with pepper, salt and nutmeg. Let the sauce boil up, and then simmer for fifteen minutes, color it with browning, and strain it into a bowl. Cut one pound of rump-steak into small pieces which should be almost square, dust them with pepper and salt, and roll them up. Place the rolls of meat in a pie-dish, together with the pieces of pigeon. Sprinkle over them some chopped parsley and a little lean minced bacon, fill up the dish with the prepared sauce, cover it closely and put it into a moderately hot oven for one hour. Let the meat get cold, add some pieces of hard-boiled egg, and cover it with pastry, leaving a small aperture in the middle of the crust, to be filled in with an ornamental rose of pastry (the latter should be baked separately) after the pie is finished. Brush the crust over with beaten egg, and bake the pie in a moderately hot oven. Salmi of Pigeons. Put half an ounce of dripping and half an ounce of bacon fat into a stewpan with one onion (cut into slices), two tomatoes (also sliced), and a little parsley; fry the vegetables until the onion is lightly browned, then stir in one ounce of flour and half an ounce of cornflour, and when smoothly mixed with the dripping, pour in gradually the stock; let the sauce boil up, then draw the pan to the side of the stove where it can only simmer gently, and leave it for a quarter of an hour. Season it with salt and pepper, add one teaspoonful of tarragon vinegar and sufficient Parisian essence to make it a rich brown. Roast the pigeons and while they are still hot cut them up and remove the skin; put them into a clean stewpan and strain the sauce over them. Cover the pan and place it in a larger pan of hot water in a moderately hot oven for an hour. Arrange the salmi neatly on a hot dish, and garnish it with kite-shaped sippets. Stewed Pigeons. Put one ounce of beef dripping into a stewpan with a small onion (cut into slices), two tomatoes (also sliced), and a little parsley; fry the vegetables until the onion is lightly browned, then stir in one ounce of flour and half an ounce of cornflour, and when smoothly mixed with the dripping pour in gradually the stock; let the sauce boil up, then draw the pan to the side of the stove where it can only simmer gently, and leave it for a quarter of an hour. Season it with salt and pepper, add a teaspoonful of tarragon vinegar and sufficient browning to make it a rich brown. Roast three or four pigeons, and while they are still hot cut them up and remove the skin, put them into a clean stewpan and strain the sauce over them. Cover the pan and place it in a larger pan of hot water in a moderately hot oven for an hour. Arrange the stew neatly on a hot dish and garnish it with kite-shaped sippets.