It is well to stuff pigeons for roasting with a well-seasoned veal forcemeat. Their flavor is much improved by this means, and parsley fried in butter can then be served with them. The stuffing should consist of minced raw veal, fat bacon, breadcrumbs soaked in milk, and all mixed together and well seasoned. In America it is usual to serve roasted pigeons with red currant jelly or stewed apples without sugar, dressed celery or other salad, mashed turnips or squash. All are considered suitable for these birds.

Roasted Pigeons Stuffed With Chestnuts

Singe and draw two pigeons and truss them as for roasting. Boil one-half pint of chestnuts, and when tender peel and pound them in a mortar with the same quantity of finely-chopped bacon. Stuff the pigeons with the chestnut mixture, put a vine leaf on each breast and bind them round with a thin slice of fat bacon; then roast them in a hot oven for half an hour. Chop fine the livers and mix them with a sprig of chopped parsley, a tablespoonful each of sauce and gravy, a lump of butter, a piece of grated lemon peel; add a little grated nutmeg, salt and pepper.

Stir the mixture over the fire for a few minutes. Put the birds on a hot dish, and serve them with the sauce.

Salmis Of Pigeons

Cut some cold cooked pigeons into nice pieces, season them on both sides with salt and pepper, and flour them well; put them in a stewpan with a little cold water, one ounce of butter, a few drops of mushroom catsup, and boil over a slow fire for a few minutes. When done turn the salmis onto a hot dish, garnish it with sippets of toast or croutons of fried bread, and serve.

Stewed Pigeons With Green Peas

Truss two pigeons with their legs inwards, cutting off the necks and washing the livers and returning them again to the insides of the birds. Blanch four ounces of streaky bacon, cut it into squares removing all rind, and fry it in a stewpan with one ounce of butter. When lightly browned take the bacon out, put the pigeons in and fry them brown, then remove them and place them one side with the bacon. Stir two tablespoonfuls of flour in the stewpan with the fat, and when cooked pour in one and one-half pints of broth. When boiling strain it through a conical strainer into another stewpan; put in the pigeons and bacon, one quart of green peas, a bunch of sweet herbs, and pepper and salt to taste. Cook slowly for half an hour, then, take them out, remove the strings and place them on a hot dish. Take the bunch of herbs out, skim the fat off the peas, put them and the bacon round the birds, and serve with a sauceboatful of the strained gravy.