Wild Game Pigeon Pie

pigeon pie
(from Housekeeping in Old Virginia, by Marion Cabell Tyree, 1878)

Ingredients:

6 young pigeons​

chopped livers​

parsley​

salt​

pepper​

butter​

small pieces of beef​

mushrooms​

hard-boiled egg yolk​

brown sauce, or gravy​

puff paste​

Instructions:

Take six young pigeons. After they are drawn trussed and singed, stuff them with chopped livers mixed with parsley, salt, pepper, and a small piece of butter. Cover the bottom of the dish with rather small pieces of beef, place a thin layer of chopped parsley and mushrooms, seasoned with pepper and salt. Over this place the pigeons between each, putting in the yolk of a hard-boiled egg. Add some brown sauce or gravy. Cover with puff paste and bake the pie for an hour and a half. - Mrs. C. C.​

 

[18thVirginia]

pigeon pie
(from The Dictionary of Daily Wants by Robert Kemp Philp, 1859.)

Ingredients:

pigeons​

pepper & salt​

butter​

parsley​

livers​

beefsteak​

hard eggs​

ham​

pie pastry​

Instructions:

Rub the pigeons with pepper and salt, inside and out; put in a bit of butter and, if approved, some parsley chopped with the livers and a little of the same seasoning. Lay a beefsteak at the bottom of the dish and the birds on it; between every two a hard egg. Put a cupful of water in the dish; and it a thin slice or two of ham be added, it will greatly improve flavour. When ham is cut for gravy or pies, the under part should be taken rather than the prime. Season the gizzards and two joints of the wings and place them in the centre of the pie. Over them, in a hole made in the crust, insert the feet nicely cleaned, and leave them protruding to indicate the contents of the pie.​

 

[MRB1863]

Interesting recipe...reminds me of four-and-twenty-blackbirds...
With all those items to improve the taste of the pigeon, why not just leave out the pigeon and enjoy the other flavors? Can't imagine a pigeon adding that much to the dish, anyway. Wonder if it tastes like chicken???

 

[donna]

Bumping this recipe for Pigeon Pie.