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Pigeons in a Hole

Pigeons in a Hole is a traditional British recipe, based on Hannah Glasse's recipe of 1747, for a classic dish of pigeons cooked in a Yorkshire pudding batter for milk, eggs and flour that represents the archetype for later dishes of 'toad in the hole'. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic British version of: Pigeons in a Hole.

prep time

20 minutes

cook time

25 minutes

Total Time:

45 minutes

Additional Time:

(+30 minutes resting)

Serves:

4

Rating:

Tags : Game RecipesFowl RecipesMilk RecipesBaking RecipesBritish Recipes

This is a traditional British recipe redacted from Hannah Glasse's 1747 volume The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy, the classic Georgian cookbook.

Original Recipe

Pigeons in a hole.


TAKE your pigeons, ſeaſon them with beaten mace, pepper and ſalt ; put a little piece of butter in the belly, lay them in a diſh, and pour a little batter all over them, made with a quart of milk and eggs, and four or five ſpoonfuls of flour. Bake it, and ſend it to table. It is a good diſh.

Modern Redaction

his is one of the oldest recipes for 'toad in the hole' that I have seen. Modern recipes for toad in the hole use sausages, Victorian recipes tend to use strips of beef, mutton or steak and kidney (eg Mutton Toad-in-the-Hole, Toad-in-the-Hole), but this traditional recipe has pigeons cooked in a flour, egg and butter batter.

Ingredients:

4 oven-ready pigeons
salt, freshly-ground black pepper and salt, to taste
4 tsp butter

For the Batter:
300ml milk
3 eggs, beaten
210g plain flour

Method:

Simply combine the egg, and milk in a bowl and mix together, stirring vigourously to combine. Then whisk in the flour, adding it a little at a time. Once your batter is made, leave to rest for half an hour.

Pre-heat your oven to 220°C then add butter, lard or dripping to your roasting tin and place in the oven until hot. Take the tin out of the oven, then season your pigeons with salt, black pepper and nutmeg before placing a teaspoon of butter in their boy cavities and adding to the hot roasting tin, breast uppermost, spacing them evenly before adding the batter (stir it first). Make certain that you fill the tin no more that 3/4 of the way up. Immediately return the tin to the oven and bake for about 25 minutes, until the pudding is puffy and well risen and is golden brown on colour and the pigeons are cooked through.

Remove from the oven and serve immediately.

Find more Hannah Glasse Recipes Hereand more Traditional Georgian Recipes Here.