Salmis de Palombes

This salmis, traditionally served on All Saints’ Day (the meat of the pigeon is appropriately dark) is very different from the classic recipe in which the carcass of a roast bird is crushed in a mortar, then used to flavour the sauce. Here the bird is cut in pieces and simmered in red wine with onions and ham for as long as five hours, since wood pigeon is notoriously tough. Domestic pigeon (squab in the USA) can be substituted, and will take only an hour or so to cook.