ROAST PIGEONS WITH UNPEELED GARLIC CLOVES (PIGEONNEAU AUX GOUSSES D'AIL EN CHEMISE)

SOURCE: MARIE-BLANCHE DE BROGLIE. THE CUISINE OF NORMANDY: FRENCH REGIONAL COOKING WITH PRINCESS MARIE-BLANCHE DE BROGLIE.

Classical French cooking rarely uses the term “pigeon” to describe the granivorous avian members of the Columbiformes order. The gastronomically accurate name is pigeonneau or squab because four unfledged weeks translate to a high-yielding dark silky tender flesh efficiently sealed by the fatty skin. A young squab growing beyond this age undergoes weight loss and gets a chewier breast due to the bird receiving its flying instincts. For this reason, cookery of adult pigeons often requires the preliminary step of coating the birds with fat or oil to prevent drying up of their juices from high temperature.

Ingredients

3/4 cup/170 grams unsalted butter

1/2 teaspoon/0.5 grams thyme sprigs, preferably picked fresh on the same day for best results

6 cleaned and well-hung pigeons with livers intact

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

28 large cloves garlic, separated but unpeeled

2 tablespoons/30 mL brandy, preferably Cognac

3/4 cup/180 mL chicken stock, preferably homemade

Specific Equipment

Trussing needle and kitchen twine

Heavy iron skillet

Tray or plate

Food processor or blender

Fine mesh sieve or strainer

Wire whisk

Serves 6

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400°F/200°C.

2. Remove the livers from the pigeons and set them aside.

3. Combine 6 tablespoons/85 grams butter and thyme until well-blended and place 1 tablespoon/14 grams of the mixture in the cavity of each bird.

4. Truss each pigeon twice with a trussing needle and a kitchen twine by tying the drumsticks and the tip of the breastbone to the tail end and by fastening the akimbo wings and neck skin to the other breast end. Draw the two twine strings tightly to securely hold the whole pigeon together. Season each pigeon with salt and pepper.

4. Melt the rest of the butter in the skillet over medium-high heat. Lay the pigeons with their breast sides down once the molten butter starts to lose its foam, and brown lightly for 1 to 2 minutes while regulating the heat. Turn the pigeons over its side, and continue browning for another 1 to 2 minutes, making sure that the pigeon skins do not break. Flip the pigeons again over the other side and sauté for 1 to 2 minutes. Turn over once again to brown the backbone.

5. Arrange the garlic around the pigeons and transfer the skillet inside the oven and roast for 20 minutes, frequently basting the birds with the pan juices.

6. Remove the pigeons from the oven and keep them warm on a separate tray or plate. Set aside 10 of the garlic cloves for the sauce. Keep the rest of the garlic cloves for garnish.

7. Sauté the reserved livers on the same skillet for 3 to 4 minutes or until brown. Pour in the brandy and boil briefly. Purée the livers and the reserved garlic cloves in a food processor or blender and pass it through a fine mesh sieve or strainer over the same skillet.

8. Whisk in the stock and bring to a boil. Continue whisking the sauce until smooth. Add the pigeons to heat them through, basting the birds with sauce.

9. Remove the twine from each pigeon and arrange them on a serving platter with the remaining garlic. Coat each pigeon with the sauce before serving.