Le Pigeon: Cooking at the Dirty Bird [A Cookbook]

by Gabriel Rucker, Meredith Erickson, Lauren Fortgang

This debut cookbook from James Beard Rising Star Chef Gabriel Rucker features a serious yet playful collection of 150 recipes from his phenomenally popular Portland restaurant.

In the five years since Gabriel Rucker took the helm at Le Pigeon, he has catapulted from culinary school dropout to award-winning chef. Le Pigeon is offal-centric and meat-heavy, but by no means dogmatic, offering adventures into delicacies unknown along with the chance to order a vegetarian mustard greens quiche and a Miller High Life if that's what you're craving. In their first cookbook, Rucker and general manager/sommelier Andrew Fortgang celebrate high-low extremes in cooking, combining the wild and the refined in a unique and progressive style.

Featuring wine recommendations from sommelier Andrew Fortgang, stand-out desserts from pastry chef Lauren Fortgang, and stories about the restaurant’s raucous, seat-of-the-pants history by writer Meredith Erickson, Le Pigeon combines the wild and the refined in a unique, progressive, and delicious style.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Food, Reference

352 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2013

Reviews

[Darren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here is a book that any real foodie will like, even though some of the wonderful photographs might be viewed as a little creepy or scary by many.

So, what do you get from this richly-illustrated, thick tome written by some of the team who create the culinary magic at the Portland, Oregon-based "Le Pigeon" restaurant? Things start with a genuinely interesting little introduction that explains the history of the restaurant to date and, unlike many books, this is not "ego city". Then it is straight to the kitchen to get cooking.

The recipes are split into curiously-named chapters called "Lettuce and Such", "Tongue", "Fat Liver", Little Birds", "Rabbit", "Little Terry", "Big Terry", "Pork", "Horns and Antlers", "Lamb", "Veg" and "Choco, Tart, Profit". Some but not all may be fairly self-explanatory… Many of the recipes will appear "high end" and "exclusive dining" and yet when you look at the ingredients they might be everyday items that the typical consumer would avoid if they saw it in the food store. Not that many people like cooking tongue, for example, yet it sure is a versatile part and a shame to ignore it.

This is a book you need to really read through, at least once, to get the most out of it. There is plenty of strange terminology (at least to this reviewer) and many funny anecdotes tucked away where you least expect them, such as a customer finding a bullet lodged in a long-cooked piece of tongue (!). If you are prepared to "push the envelope" a bit and trust in the authors then you will not be disappointed. This is one of those very few books that can be classed as "truly different", an inner sanctum for foodies and food curious people, yet the authors did not need to rely on tricks or strange food combinations to create this masterpiece. The food speaks for itself.

In some ways the sheer, stark nature of some of the photographs is more "alarming" than the recipes and their textual descriptions. Cooked pigeon legs sticking out of a plastic container is not a typical image for a cookbook, that is for sure. Yet the photographs are artwork in their own right, such as that used to illustrate "Rabbit and Eel Terrine".

It is unfortunate that our usual niggles exist in this book (lack of an estimated preparation/cooking time and use of sole U.S. measures) but this book remains sufficiently different, engaging and detailed that you just want more, more and more. The instructions given are clear, to-the-point but through so as long as you can follow a recipe and don't burn water you would have no problems.

This won't be a book for everybody and if the idea of cooking "less common" ingredients is possibly not for you, consider checking this book out in a bookstore first. There are more "common" ingredient recipes inside too, but for this author at least part of the charm and appeal is the use of "less common" ingredients.

One must underline that this book is capable of being suitable for everybody and not just "elite gastronomes". You might, however, need to be less squeamish or picky and disassociate rabbit as just being something fluffy that hops around a field. If you only consider one out-of-the-ordinary book this year, give some strong consideration to this one.

Le Pigeon: Cooking at the Dirty Bird, written by Gabriel Rucker, Meredith Erickson, Lauren Fortgang & Andrew Fortgang and published by Ten Speed Press. ISBN 9781607744443, 352 pages. Typical price: USD40. YYYYY.


// This review appeared in YUM.fi and is reproduced here in full with permission of YUM.fi. YUM.fi celebrates the worldwide diversity of food and drink, as presented through the humble book. Whether you call it a cookery book, cook book, recipe book or something else (in the language of your choice) YUM will provide you with news and reviews of the latest books on the marketplace. //

[M Grant · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is possibly better than the food at le pigeon (which is saying a lot). The chefs at le pigeon in Portland are true food lovers and shows in their treatment of the ingredients and the care in which they take to explain each step of the recipes. You do not need to be a culinary school graduate to follow these steps, and throughout the cookbook they actively encourage you the home cook to experiment freely as they have. Even the more technical recipes are accompanied with illustrations and pictures to assist you. This is food porn at the highest level...
Most well known for their excessive love of the 'controversial' and delicious foie gras and they treat it (and other delicacies) exactly for what it is, an ingredient. They even freely give away the secrets to their most loved and famous recipes... I love this book: the recipes, the stories, the top bars and side notes and tips on procuring quality ingredients from reputable vendors, and even their use of some less popular and less well known ingredients, like pigeon, pheasant, elk, heart, neck, tripe, lamb neck etc,
Looking forward to eating my way through this already well tagged and bookmarked book.

[Crystal · Rating 4 out of 5]

I never thought I'd actually sit and read a cookbook from cover to cover... but this one captured my attention and just wouldn't let me go! I loved it! And I was born, raised, and am currently residing in Portland but I still learned a lot about my hometown! Thank you!

[Vuk Trifkovic · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very 10-Speed Press, very Portland. Not amazing though. Does not have the zing of "Joe Beef", even though Meredith Ericsson was involved in both.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m not sure what I was expecting, having eaten here, but every recipe calls for foie gras or rabbit or something I can’t easily get at the store. There wasn’t a single recipe that I could try.

[criavolver · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yes, there is a recipe to cook pigeons and I will never make it. Pigeons are our abandoned pets…that’s cruel enough. (Yes I struggle with my love for eating meat). But there are many more recipes that I would love to try. Technical fancy recipes for when I have my boss and his wife over for dinner type of recipes.

[Tony Espy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book makes me wish I lived closer to Portland, but I guess the recipes and great stories throughout will have to suffice.

[Degan Walters · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was hesitant about the meat-forward recipes I knew would be in this book as I don't cook much meat at home these days, but the first recipe in the book - BBQ celery root, mache and dulce de Bourgogne (the BBQ sauce being made with an entire bottle of Beaujolais) - won me over immediately. I actually "wowed" out loud at the description and the gorgeous photography. Not to mention the friendly, fun vibe running through the book. I want to make this food, but I also want to make it with these people, or at least hang out in their restaurant.

So this book, succeeds, where many do not, at being a brief history of a popular restaurant, a compelling advertisement for visiting that restaurant, a playful account about food (I love the fried quail Eggo and foie maple syrup version of chicken and waffles) with gorgeous photographs of gorgeously plated food (for example the radis beurre recipe -simply radishes with butter but the butter is made with 3 types of roe and looks like it's filled with sea sprinkles) and a solid cookbook in its own right.

It IS fancy. And specialized. There is a entire chapter for tongue recipes, and another for foie gras, but they are accessible for the home cook and thoughtfully accompanied by recipes that use up the leftover pieces (probably how the tongue chapter came to be). And broken up with dishes like how to make clams with Kielbasa and beer - on the beach. Highly recommend.

[Leonard · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't read all the recipes in this book, of course. I'm trying to reduce my consumption of meat and many of these are meat recipes. However this may be the book to check if you need a recipe for elk, beef, or lamb tongue, or some other unusual and less common meat product. Of course you might be able to just find those recipes on the Internet also.

[Geo Vittoratos]

Got this as a gift for the in-laws, with a gift certificate for the restaurant tucked inside. Thumbed through it and was super impressed and excited by what it offered and the thoughtful feel that perfectly matched the restaurant.

[La La · Rating 4 out of 5]

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