Boiled Pigeons

History

This receipt appears in Eliza Acton's Modern Cookery for Private Families, published 1845. The book's contents list it as "Boiled Pigeons," immediately after "To roast Pigeons (and when in season)," within the poultry chapter, both on page 279.

The receipt itself is four lines long. Truss the birds like boiled fowls, drop them into plenty of boiling water, throw in a little salt, and in fifteen minutes lift them out; pour parsley and butter over them and send a tureen of it to table with them. There is a time but no quantities and no bird count — brevity consistent with a text written to lean on the neighbouring instructions for boiled fowl that it cross-references.

No source consulted documents an origin, an inventor, or a date of first appearance for this preparation. It is a plain boiling method with a standard English sauce, and the record is silent on where it came from.

Two further things we could not stand behind: the book's publishing history — thirteen editions by 1853, and its standing among the first cookery books to give exact quantities and times — and the account of manorial dovecote rights, their relaxation after about 1600 and the decline of dovecotes after the eighteenth century. Those we learned from popular reference and food-writing sources, and we were unable to locate the evidence they rest on. No source ties this receipt to any particular supply of birds, or says whether mature pigeons or squabs were meant.

Ingredients

• pigeons
• water
• salt
• parsley and butter sauce

Instructions

1. Truss the pigeons as you would for boiled fowl.
2. Drop them into plenty of boiling water with a little salt.
3. Cook for fifteen minutes.
4. Lift the pigeons out and place on a serving dish.
5. Pour parsley and butter sauce over them.
6. Send a tureen of the sauce to table with them.