Name: Roast Wood Pigeon with Sautéed Red-Wine Potatoes
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: United Kingdom
Ingredients: 50 g (2 oz) butter or goose or duck fat, for frying the potatoes and onions; 50–75 g (2–3 oz) cold butter; 4 large wood pigeons; 4 potatoes, boiled in their jackets; 600 ml (1 pint) Chicken Stock or 300 ml (10 fl oz) Veal Jus/Gravy or alternative; 1 bay leaf; 3/4 bottle of red wine; Fresh thyme sprig; 1 carrot, chopped; 5 red onions, sliced; Cooking oil; 1 teaspoon demerara sugar; 50 ml (2 fl oz) brandy or Armagnac (optional); Salt and pepper; 1 tablespoon chopped fresh flatleaf parsley

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Complex

Appears in

Fabulous Food

By Gary Rhodes

Published 1997

About

Wood pigeons have a strong, almost beefy flavour so a good red wine always goes well with them. The potatoes are flavoured with red onions and then caramelized in red wine – the flavour is so good. I also like to sauté the potatoes in goose fat for a very rich flavour. You can of course sauté the potatoes in butter, which is almost as good.

The pigeons are going to be roasted on the breast bones. The rest of the carcass and the legs are going to be removed, chopped up and turned int