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📝 Description
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🥘 Ingredients
Pigeons, 3 oz. of butter, pepper and salt to taste. _Trussing_.--Pigeons, to be good, should be eaten fresh (if kept a little, the flavour goes off), and they should be drawn as soon as killed. Cut off the heads and necks, truss the wings over the backs, and cut off the toes at the first joint: previous to trussing, they should be carefully cleaned, as no bird requires so much washing. [Illustration: ROAST PIGEON.]
👨🍳 Method
Wipe the birds very dry, season them inside with pepper and salt, and put about 3/4 oz. of butter into the body of each: this makes them moist. Put them down to a bright fire, and baste them well the whole of the time they are cooking (they will be done enough in from 20 to 30 minutes); garnish with fried parsley, and serve with a tureen of parsley and butter. Bread-sauce and gravy, the same as for roast fowl, are exceedingly nice accompaniments to roast pigeons, as also egg-sauce.
📜 From Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management (1861). Public domain.
⭐ Reader Reviews
Honest opinions from readers who have explored this book.
I tried Mrs. Beeton's Roast Pigeons this week, a recipe that's about as old-school as it gets. I found the process surprisingly straightforward, despite the initial intimidation of handling whole birds. The key, I discovered, was in the trussing and seasoning—the butter tucked inside each pigeon made them incredibly moist and flavorful. The delightful surprise came from the simple act of basting. I've never been one to fuss over this step, but the shiny, crackling skin it produced was worth the effort. This recipe is perfect for the weeknight cook who wants to impress with minimal fuss. The pigeons were done in just 25 minutes, and the garnish of fried parsley added a fresh touch. I served them with a quick bread sauce, and it was a meal that felt both rustic and refined. Next time, I'll try the egg sauce mentioned—any excuse to use more eggs!
