Pigeon Pie

Young pigeons baked in a deep dish with cream and herbs and covered with a rich pie crust.

Pick and draw some young pigeons, wash them, lay them in a saucepan of boiling water, add a piece of onion and a little salt, cover the pan and boil until tender. Take the pigeons out, drain them, and put in each a teaspoonful of butter, a small quantity of salt, pepper, thyme and a hard-boiled egg. Lay them in a deep bakingdish and strain their cooking liquor over them; put in one teacupful of cream, one tablespoonful of butter, two tablespoonfuls of breadcrumbs, one tablespoonful of minced parsley and thyme, and a pinch of salt. Cover the pie with a rich crust, ornament it, stick four of the claws in the crust, and bake it. Serve either hot or cold. If cold set the pie-dish on an under dish with a napkin folded about it, and garnish freely with sprigs of parsley.