_Ingredients._—A thin slice of bacon, 1 onion, 1 blade of mace, 6
peppercorns, 3 or 4 sprigs of thyme, 1 pint of gravy, pepper and salt
to taste, thickening of butter and flour. _Mode._—Put the liver,
heart, and pettitoes into a stewpan with the bacon, mace, peppercorns,
thyme, onion, and gravy, and simmer these gently for ¼ hour; then take
out the heart and liver, and mince them very fine. Keep stewing the
feet until quite tender, which will be in from 20 minutes to ½ hour,
reckoning from the time that they boiled up first; then put back the
minced liver, thicken the gravy with a little butter and flour, season
with pepper and salt, and simmer over a gentle fire for 5 minutes,
occasionally stirring the contents. Dish the mince, split the feet, and
arrange them round alternately with sippets of toasted bread, and pour
the gravy in the middle. _Time._—Altogether 40 minutes. _Sufficient_
for 3 or 4 persons. _Seasonable_ from September to March.
PIGEON, to Carve.
A very straightforward plan is adopted in carving a pigeon: the knife
is carried sharply in the direction of the line as shown from 1 to 2,
entirely through the bird, cutting it into two precisely equal and
similar parts. If it is necessary to make three pieces of it, a small
wing should be cut off with the leg on either side, thus serving two
guests; and, by this means, there will be sufficient meat left on the
breast to send to the third guest.
[Illustration: PIGEON.]
PIGEON PIE (Epsom Grand-Stand Recipe).
_Ingredients._—1½ lb. of rump-steak, 2 or 3 pigeons, 3 slices of
ham, pepper and salt to taste, 2 oz. of butter, 4 eggs, puff crust.
_Mode._—Cut the steak into pieces about 3 inches square, and with it
line the bottom of a pie-dish, seasoning it well with pepper and salt.
Clean the pigeons, rub them with pepper and salt inside and out, and
put into the body of each rather more than ½ oz. of butter; lay them
on the steak, and a piece of ham on each pigeon. Add the yolks of four
eggs, and half fill the dish with stock; place a border of puff paste
round the edge of the dish, put on the cover, and ornament it in any
way that may be preferred. Clean three of the feet, and place them in
a hole made in the crust at the top: this shows what kind of pie it
is. Glaze the crust,—that is to say, brush it over with the yolk of an
egg,—and bake it in a well-heated oven for about 1¼ hour. When liked,
a seasoning of pounded mace may be added. _Time._—1¼ hour, or rather
less. _Average cost_, 5_s._ 3_d._ _Sufficient_ for 5 or 6 persons.
_Seasonable_ at any time.
PIGEONS, Broiled.
_Ingredients._—Pigeons, 3 oz. of butter, pepper and salt to taste.
_Mode._—Take care that the pigeons are quite fresh, and carefully
pluck, draw, and wash them; split the backs, rub the birds over with
butter, season them with pepper and salt, and broil them over a
moderate fire for ¼ hour or 20 minutes. Serve very hot, with either
mushroom-sauce or a good gravy. Pigeons may also be plainly boiled,
and served with parsley and butter; they should be trussed like boiled
fowls, and take from ¼ hour to 20 minutes to boil. _Time._—To broil a
pigeon, from ¼ hour to 20 minutes; to boil one, the same time. _Average
cost_, from 6_d._ to 9_d._ each. _Seasonable_ from April to September,
but in the greatest perfection from Midsummer to Michaelmas.
PIGEONS, Roast.
_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.
_Mode._—Wipe the birds very dry, season them inside with pepper and
salt, and put about ¾ oz. of butter into the body of each: this makes
them moist. Place them at 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. _Time._—From 20 minutes to ½ hour. _Average cost_, 6_d._ to
9_d._ each. _Seasonable_ from April to September; but in the greatest
perfection from Midsummer to Michaelmas.
[Illustration: ROAST PIGEON.]
PIGEONS, Stewed.
_Ingredients._—6 pigeons, a few slices of bacon, 3 oz. of butter,
2 tablespoonfuls of minced parsley, sufficient stock to cover the
pigeons, thickening of butter and flour, 1 tablespoonful of mushroom
ketchup, 1 tablespoonful of port wine. _Mode._—Empty and clean the
pigeons thoroughly, mince the livers, add to these the parsley and
butter, and put it into the insides of the birds. Truss them with the
legs inward, and put them into a stewpan, with a few slices of bacon
placed under and over them; add the stock, and stew gently for rather
more than ½ hour. Dish the pigeons, strain the gravy, thicken it
with butter and flour, add the ketchup and port wine, give one boil,
pour over the pigeons, and serve. _Time._—Rather more than ½ hour.
_Average cost_, 6_d._ to 9_d._ each. _Sufficient_ for 4 or 5 persons.
_Seasonable_ from April to September.
PIKE, Baked.
_Ingredients._—1 or 2 pike, a nice delicate stuffing (_see_
Forcemeats), 1 egg, bread-crumbs, ¼ lb. butter. _Mode._—Scale the fish,
take out the gills, wash, and wipe it thoroughly dry; stuff it with
forcemeat, sew it up, and fasten the tail in the mouth by means of a
skewer; brush it over with egg, sprinkle with bread-crumbs, and baste
with butter, before putting it in the oven, which must be well heated.
When the pike is of a nice brown colour, cover it with buttered paper,
as the outside would become too dry. If 2 are dressed, a little variety
may be made by making one of them green with a little chopped parsley
mixed with the bread-crumbs. Serve anchovy or Dutch sauce, and plain
melted butter with it. _Time._—According to size, 1 hour, more or less.
_Average cost._—Seldom bought. _Seasonable_ from September to March.
_Note._—Pike _à la genévése_ may be stewed in the same manner as salmon
_à la genévése_.
PIKE, Boiled.
_Ingredients._—¼ lb. of salt to each gallon of water; a little vinegar.
_Mode._—Scale and clean the pike, and fasten the tail in its mouth
by means of a skewer. Lay it in cold water, and when it boils, throw
in the salt and vinegar. The time for boiling depends, of course,
on the size of the fish; but a middling-sized pike will take about ½
an hour. Serve with Dutch or anchovy sauce, and plain melted butter.
_Time._—According to size, ½ to 1 hour. _Average cost._—Seldom bought.
_Seasonable_ from September to March.
PILLAU FOWL, based on M. Soyer’s Recipe (an Indian Dish).
_Ingredients._—1 lb. of rice, 2 oz. of butter, a fowl, 2 quarts of
stock or good broth, 40 cardamum-seeds, ½ oz. of coriander-seed, ¼
oz. of cloves, ¼ oz. of allspice, ¼ oz. of mace, ¼ oz. of cinnamon, ½
oz. of peppercorns, 4 onions, 6 thin slices of bacon, 2 hard-boiled
eggs. _Mode._—Well wash 1 lb. of the best Patna rice, put it into a
frying-pan with the butter, which keep moving over a slow fire until
the rice is lightly browned. Truss the fowl as for boiling, put it
into a stewpan with the stock or broth; pound the spices and seeds
thoroughly in a mortar, tie them in a piece of muslin, and put them in
with the fowl. Let it boil slowly until it is nearly done; then add
the rice, which should stew until quite tender and almost dry; cut the
onions into slices, sprinkle them with flour, and fry, without breaking
them, of a nice brown colour. Have ready the slices of bacon curled
and grilled, and the eggs boiled hard. Lay the fowl in the form of a
pyramid upon a dish, smother with the rice, garnish with the bacon,
fried onions, and the hard-boiled eggs cut into quarters, and serve
very hot. Before taking the rice out, remove the spices. _Time._—½ hour
to stew the fowl without the rice; ½ hour with it. _Average cost_,
4_s._ 3_d._ _Sufficient_ for 4 or 5 persons. _Seasonable_ at any time.