Gordon Ramsay roast pigeon is browned in butter, roasted for eight to ten minutes and served with red cabbage braised in brown sugar and vinegar. Four wood pigeons, an hour and a half, breasts still pink.
The recipe is from Healthy Appetite, page 210. Buy wood pigeon rather than any other kind. Ramsay makes the point himself in this F Word video, where he calls his “a naughty Trafalgar Square thing”.
Those eight to ten minutes are the whole margin. Pigeon carries almost no fat, so it goes from pink to dry fast. Press the breast instead of watching the clock, because slightly springy means medium-rare.
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Gordon Ramsay Roast Pigeon with Pickled Red Cabbage
Course: MainCuisine: BritishDifficulty: Medium4
servings20
minutes1
hour390
kcal10
minutes1 hr 30 min
From Gordon Ramsay Healthy Appetite. Whole wood pigeons browned, basted in foaming butter and roasted until the breasts feel springy, served with red cabbage braised slowly in brown sugar and vinegar.
Ingredients
- For the pigeon:
4 oven-ready wood pigeons, about 280g each (10 oz each)
1½ tbsp olive oil
Sea salt and black pepper
Small knob of butter
- For the pickled red cabbage:
1 red cabbage, about 850g (1 lb 14 oz)
30g butter (2 tbsp)
50g brown sugar (¼ cup)
60ml red wine or malt vinegar (¼ cup)
Directions
- Prepare the cabbage: Quarter the cabbage and cut out the tough core, then finely shred the leaves and place in a bowl.
- Braise the cabbage: Melt the butter in a large, wide pan and add the sugar and vinegar with a little splash of water. Stir until the sugar has dissolved, then add the shredded cabbage and toss to coat. Cover and braise for 45 minutes to 1 hour until tender, lifting the lid to stir every once in a while.
- Brown the pigeons: Heat the oven to 190°C (375°F), Gas 5, aiming to cook the pigeons about 20 minutes before the cabbage will be ready. Heat a wide ovenproof pan and add a little olive oil. Season the pigeons inside and out, then fry for about 2 minutes on each side until evenly browned all over.
- Baste and roast: Add a knob of butter, turn the pigeons breast upwards and spoon the foaming butter over them. Transfer the pan to the oven and roast for another 8 to 10 minutes. The breasts should feel slightly springy when pressed, which means medium-rare.
- Rest and serve: Rest in a warm place for 5 to 10 minutes. Pile the pickled red cabbage onto warm plates and sit a roasted pigeon alongside.
Notes
- Ramsay times the two so they land together, starting the pigeons about 20 minutes before the cabbage is ready. If you are jointing birds yourself, ask your butcher for the carcasses, because he uses them for stock.
FAQs
How long do you cook pigeon?
There is no single number in Ramsay’s own work, which is worth knowing before trusting any recipe. Whole birds get 2 minutes a side then 8 to 10 in the oven. Breasts get 3 minutes skin down and 2 to 3 over.
On The F Word he says four to five minutes in one episode and a minute a side in another. Sous-vide it is ten. Use the press test rather than the clock, the way he checks duck breast by feel.
Where do you buy wood pigeon?
A butcher or game dealer rather than a supermarket. Wood pigeon is shot year round in Britain, so it is not tied to a season the way grouse or partridge are. Ramsay does call it a real delicacy through the autumn months, when the birds eat best.
He went shooting for his own in Essex before cooking it on The F Word. Buying breasts rather than whole birds is fine, but ask for the carcasses too. Game like this sits close to the loin of venison he also serves pink.
Why does pigeon dry out so easily?
Because there is almost no fat in it. Ramsay warns on camera that pigeon is “a very lean meat”, and that a pan run too hot will dry it out instantly.
The butter basting in step four is the defence. Turning the birds breast upwards and spooning foaming butter over them stops the surface tightening while the inside is still coming up.
Can you cook just the breasts instead?
Yes, and he does that more often than roasting whole birds. The breasts go skin side down into a hot pan for about 3 minutes until the skin crisps. Then 2 to 3 minutes on the other side, with a knob of butter spooned over at the end.
Slice them thickly into four or five pieces rather than carving thin. He drizzles a little dressing over the sliced meat while it rests, purely to keep it from drying while the rest is plated.
What else does Ramsay do with pigeon?
Mostly salads. One pairs the breasts with beetroot, oak leaf lettuce and a hazelnut vinaigrette, another with root vegetables soused in honey and lime. A third, in this F Word episode, runs pancetta and crumbled black pudding through the leaves.
That last one crumbles the pudding straight into the pan so it crisps in the bacon fat, the same move as the black pudding salad. In Secrets he goes the other way and cooks the crown sous-vide, serving the breasts with port and Madeira.
What do you serve with roast pigeon?
The cabbage here is quick and sharp, braised for an hour in butter, brown sugar and vinegar. It cuts the gaminess without anything else needed on the plate.
It is a leaner cousin of the braised red cabbage from Great British Pub Food, which adds apple and port and cooks longer. Either works, though the pickled version suits a bird this rich better.
