Pidgeon Pie

Recipes

Pigeon Pie

Make your Paste as for the Pasty, roule it thin, and lay it into your baking-pan, then lay in Butter, then mix Pepper and Salt and Butter together, and fill the bellies of your Pigeons, then lay them in, and put in some large Mace, and little thin slices of Bacon, then cover them with Butter, and close your Pie, and bake it not too much

Hannah Woolley, The Queen-Like Closet Or Rich Cabinet (1670), pp. 195-196.

Potted Pigeons

½ dozen pigeons
1 pint of stock or water
¼ pound of salt pork
1 tablespoonful of flour
1 onion
1 tablespoonful of mushroom catsup
1 sprig of parsley
1 teaspoonful of salt
1 bay leaf
A little black pepper

Clean and wash the pigeons; fill same as a roast chicken, and truss. Put the pork in a frying-pan and try out all the dat. Roll the pigeons in flour and brown them in the hot fat. When they are a nice brown, add the stock or water, stir again until it boils, add the salt, pepper, catsup, bay leaf, onion sliced, parsley, salt, and pepper. Pour this over the pigeons, cover the stewing-pan, and simmer gently two hours. When done, remove the strings, strain the gravy over and around the pigeons. Serve with boiled rice in a separate dish.

Sarah Tyson Heston Rorer, Mrs. Rorer's Philadelphia cookbook : a manual of home economics (1886), p. 200.

Pigeon Pies with Bramble Gravy

Ingredients:

8 Savoy cabbage leaves, stalks removed
2 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for greasing
small knob of butter
8 skinless pigeon breasts
8 pancetta slices or thin streaky bacon
plain flour, for dusting
375g pack puff pastry
1 egg, beaten

For the gravy:

1 shallot, finely chopped
1 tbsp plain flour
2 handfuls blackberries
1 tbsp Crème de Cassis (optional)
1 tbsp port
small glass of red wine
250ml game or beef stock

Method:

STEP 1
Bring a pan of water to the boil, cook the cabbage leaves for 1 min, then drain and place in cold water. Once cool, drain and pat dry with kitchen paper.

STEP 2
Heat the oil and butter in a large frying pan. Sear the pigeon for about 30 secs on each side until browned, then transfer to a plate and set aside the pan as is. Heat oven to 220C/200C fan/gas 7.

STEP 3
When the pigeon has rested, make 4 parcels by sandwiching 2 breasts together, wrapping them tightly in the cabbage leaves, then criss-crossing 2 slices of pancetta over the parcel to secure. Set aside.

STEP 4
On a lightly floured surface, roll out the pastry until it’s the thickness of a £1 coin. Cut out 4 x 12cm circles and place on a greased baking tray. Sit a cabbage parcel in the middle of each circle. Roll the pastry trimmings out again and cut out 4 more circles about 16cm in diameter. Brush the edges of the pastry on the tray with the beaten egg, then drape over the larger circles and pat them round to make a large ‘ravioli’, trying to expel any air. With a fork, push the sides together. Brush the pies generously with egg, poke a small airhole in the top of each, then sprinkle with salt flakes, if you like. Bake the pies for 20 mins until the pastry is dark golden. Remove and leave to rest for 10 mins.

STEP 5
Meanwhile, make your gravy. Put the pan with the pigeon cooking juices back on the heat and sizzle the shallot until golden. Stir in the flour and cook for a few mins until sandy. Add the blackberries and cassis (if using), Port and wine, then bubble down. Add the stock and simmer for a few mins until you have a gravy. Set aside and reheat when the pies are ready. To serve, carefully carve each pie in half so you see the cross section of breast, and serve with a little of the sauce poured around

Barney Desmazery, “Pigeon pies with bramble gravy recipe,” BBC Good Food (2013).