Venetian Spit-Roasted Pigeons - Piccioni allo Spiedo

Pigeons are relatively easy to raise, and almost every old house out in the country has a piccionaia, a chamber built high under the eves with lots of small holes that the pigeons can come and go through. This particular recipe for spit-roasted pigeons is from Breganze, in the Veneto. To serve 6 you'll need:

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

• 6 pigeons, cleaned, plucked and lightly flamed
• 12 very fine slices of cured lard (in its absence use prosciutto fat; pancetta will be too strongly flavored here)
• 12 juniper berries, crushed
• 2 bay leaves, shredded
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• Salt and pepper

Preparation:

Combine the juniper berries, bay leaves, and olive oil, and season the mixture to taste with salt and pepper. Run the mixture into the pigeons, inside and out, then wrap the pigeons in the slices of lard and tie them in place with string. Spit them, crosswise, inserting the spit just under the wings, and grill them close to, but not directly over, a bank of coals, basting them often with the drippings that fall into the basting pan. The cooking time will be about a half hour, or when the juices from a skewer pressed home under the wing run clear.

Yield: 6 servings Venetian roast pigeons.

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