TAKE a large sauce-pan, lay a layer of bacon, then a layer of veal, a layer of course beef and another little layer of veal, about a pound of veal and a pound of beef cut very thin, a piece of carrot, a bundle of sweet herbs, an onion, some black and white pepper, a blade or two of mace, four or five cloves, a little crust of bread toasted very brown. Cover the sauce-pan close, let it over a slow fire for five or six minutes, shake it a little, then pour in a quart of boiling water, shake it round, cover it close, and let it stew till the gravy is quite rich and good, then strain it off and skim off all the fat. In the mean time stuff the bellies of the pigeons with force-meat, made thus; take a pound of veal, a pound of beef suet, beat both in a mortar fine, an equal quantity of crumbs of bread, some pepper, salt, nutmeg, beaten mace, a little lemon-peel cut small, some parsley cut small, and a very little thyme stripp’d; mix all together with the yolk of an egg, fill the pigeons, and stuff the breast down, flour them, and fry them in fresh butter a little brown; then pour all the fat clean out of the pan, and put to the pigeons the gravy, cover them close, and let them stew a quarter of an hour, or till you think they are quite enough; then take them up, lay them in a dish and pour in your sauce; on each pigeon lay a bay-leaf, and on the leaf a slice of bacon. You may garnish with a lemon notched, or let it alone.
Note, You may leave out the stuffings, they will be very rich and good without it, and it is the best way of dressing them for a fine made-dish.