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Collection of old pie recipes [savoury]

This is a collection of very old savoury pie recipes, most originating from the Victorian era but likely much further back— more than likely many centuries old. I love reading old recipes that have been long forgotten and trying them out in our family kitchen.

Even if they are not a success, especially when making your own pastry is involved, they still taste very nice! Of course, you can use shop-bought pastry for these recipes, which is very convenient and ensures better success, especially when the recipe calls for puff pastry.

Feel free to play around with the recipes and substitute any ingredients you don’t have for more easily obtainable ones. Also, when a recipe calls for animal suet, you can use vegetable suet if preferred.

As always, if you have any questions about these recipes, just pop a comment below or send us an email from our contact us page, and I will do my best to assist.

Also, for helpful cooking and baking advice for preparing old recipes, as well as weights and measures conversions, do have a look at our Advice for Baking & Cooking Old Recipes page.

Table of Contents

A HANDBOOK OF COOKERY FOR A SMALL HOUSE BY JESSIE CONRAD [1923]

Pastry for Meat Pies

For meat pies, sausage rolls, etc., the following pastry is recommended.

Put two and a half cupfuls of flour into a bowl and work into it a quarter of a pound of butter. Mix with a little tepid water. Roll out on the board and spread it thickly with a quarter of a pound of lard (half at a time).

Turn over the ends of the pastry, roll out again and spread the rest of the lard. Turn in the ends again and roll finally for the crust of your pie.

Pastry for Pies and Tarts

Three breakfast-cupfuls of self-raising flour, a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, and two ounces of lard. Work the butter and lard into the flour with a good pinch of salt and mix to a smooth elastic paste with milk (sour milk may be used with advantage). Roll the paste on the board about half an inch thick. Rub a little butter lightly round the rim of the dish and put a border of paste round it.

Brush a little milk on the top of that to allow the other crust to stick to it. Roll out an amount of paste sufficient to form a crust over the top, press the edges well together, allowing plenty of room in the paste so that it does not slip off at the edges.

Pare with a floured knife round the rim the edges of the pastry and cook for three quarters of an hour in a brisk oven.

The Healthy Life Cook Book by Florence Daniel [Second Edition, 1915]

1. PASTRY INFO.

Pastry should usually be made with a very fine wholemeal flour, such as the “Nu-Era.” There are times, however, when concessions to guests, etc., demand the use of white flour. In such an event, use a good brand of household flour. The more refined the kind, the less nutriment it contains. Never add baking-powders of any kind.

The secret of making good pastry lies in lightly mixing with a cool hand. If a spoon must be used, let it be a wooden one. Roll in one direction only, away from the person. If you must give a backward roll, let it be only once. Above all, roll lightly and little. The quicker the pastry is made the better.

2. PUFF PASTE.

1/2 lb. fresh-butter or 6 ozs. Mapleton’s nutter, 1 yolk of egg or 1 teaspoon lemon juice, 1/2 lb. flour.

If butter is used, wrap it in a clean cloth and squeeze well to get rid of water. Beat the yolk of egg slightly. Put the flour on the paste board in a heap. Make a hole in the centre and put in the yolk of egg or lemon juice, and about 1 tablespoon of water. The amount of water will vary slightly according to the kind of flour, and less will be required if egg is used instead of lemon juice, but add enough to make a rather stiff paste. Mix lightly with the fingers and knead until the paste is nice and workable. But do it quickly!

Next, roll out the paste to about 1/4 inch thickness. Put all the butter or nutter in the centre of this paste and wrap it up neatly therein. Stand in a cool place for 15 minutes. Next, roll it out once, and fold it over, roll it out again and fold it over. Do this lightly. Put it away again for 15 minutes. Repeat this seven times! (I do not think many food-reformers will have the time or inclination to repeat the above performance often. Speaking for myself, I have only done it once. But as no instructions about pastry are supposed to be complete without a recipe for puff-paste, I include it.) It is now ready for use.

Do not forget to keep the board and pin well floured, or the pastry will stick. If wholemeal flour is used, it is well to have white flour for the board and pin. See also that the nutter is the same consistency as ordinary butter when kept in a medium temperature. If too hard, it must be cut up and slightly warmed. If oily, it must be cooled by standing tin in very cold water.

3. SHORT CRUST.

1/2 lb. flour, 3 ozs. nutter or butter.

Rub the nutter or butter lightly into the flour. Add enough cold water to make a fairly stiff paste. Roll it out to a 1/4 inch thickness. It is now ready for use.

CHESTNUT PIE.

1 lb. chestnuts, 1/2 lb. tomatoes, short crust.

Boil the chestnuts for half an hour. Shell. Skin the tomatoes and cut in slices. Well grease a small pie-dish, put in the chestnuts and tomatoes in alternate layers. Cover with short crust (pastry recipe No. 3, recipe above) and bake until a pale brown. Serve with parsley, tomato, or white sauce.

LENTIL AND LEEK PIE.

2 cups lentils, 12 small leeks, 4 cups water, short crust.

Put the lentils, water, and leeks, finely shredded, into a covered jar or basin. Bake in a slow oven until done. Put into a greased pie-dish and cover with short crust. (If lentils are very dry, add a little more water.) Bake. Serve with boiled potatoes, brown gravy, and any vegetable in season, except spinach or artichokes.

VEGETABLE PIE.

Cook the vegetables according to recipe for vegetable stew [see recipe below]. When cold put in a pie-dish (gravy and all) and cover with short crust. Bake for half an hour. If preferred, the vegetables may be covered with cold mashed potatoes in place of pie-crust. Top with a few small pieces of nutter, and bake until brown.

VEGETABLE STEW. [for recipe above]

1 carrot, 1 turnip, 1 potato, 1 parsnip, 2 Jerusalem artichokes, 2 onions, 2 tomatoes, 1 teaspoon lemon juice, nutter size of small walnut.

Scrub and scrape the carrot, turnip, parsnip and artichokes. Peel the potato and onions. Shred the onions and put them into a stew-pan with the nutter. Shake over the fire, and fry until brown, but do not burn or the flavour of the stew will be completely spoilt. Cut the carrot and parsnip and potato into quarters, the artichokes into halves, and put into the stew-pan with the onions. Barely cover with water. Bring to the boil and stew very gently until tender. Skin the tomatoes, break in halves, and cook slowly to a pulp in a separate pan. Add these, with the lemon juice, to the stew, and slightly thicken with a little wholemeal flour just before serving.

Victorian Pie Recipes from New Vegetarian Dishes by Mrs Bowdich [1892] WITH PREFACE BY ERNEST BELL, M.A. TREASURER OF THE LONDON VEGETARIAN SOCIETY

Summer Pie.

  • ½ peck green peas.
  • 1 cabbage lettuce.
  • 1 onion.
  • 1 egg.
  • 1 tablespoon chopped mint.
  • ½ teaspoon salt.
  • Puff or short paste.

Shell the peas, and boil them in a little water with the salt and onion sliced. Well wash the lettuce, shred it, place in a pie-dish, and when the peas are done, add them, including the liquor in which they have been boiled (if there be more liquor than the pie-dish will conveniently hold, it should be added after the pie is cooked). Sprinkle the mint over the top, cover with paste in the usual way, brush over with the beaten egg, and bake in a rather hot oven for about three-quarters of an hour.

Potato Pie.

  • 4 or 6 potatoes, according to size.
  • Cooked haricot beans.
  • 1 onion.
  • About one tablespoon of chopped mint or parsley.
  • Puff or short paste.

Parboil the potatoes, slice and lay them in a pie-dish with the onion sliced, as many beans as are liked, and a few tablespoons of the liquor. Sprinkle over the parsley or mint, cover with paste, and bake.

Alexandra Pie.

  • 1 pint soaked haricot beans.
  • 1 carrot.
  • 1 turnip.
  • 2 onions.
  • ½ pint liquor.
  • 1 ounce butter.
  • ½ pound mashed potatoes.
  • 2 ounces bread crumbs.
  • 1 egg.
  • 1 teaspoon salt.
  • 1 quart water.

Slice the carrot, turnip and onions, boil them with the beans one and a half hours, add salt and boil half an hour, strain, turn the beans and vegetables on to a large plate and place on one side to cool. Dissolve the butter in a frying pan, and fry the beans and vegetables until slightly browned; turn into a pie dish, pour over the liquor which was strained off, place in the mashed potatoes, and lastly cover with the egg and bread crumbs well mixed. The white and yolk should be beaten separately. Bake in a rather hot oven until a nice brown.

MODERN COOKERY FOR PRIVATE FAMILIES (New Edition) by ELIZA ACTON [1882]

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.

Raised Pie Mould.

The greatest possible cleanliness and nicety should be observed in making pastry. The slab or board, paste-rollers, tins, cutters, moulds, everything, in fact, used for it, and especially the hands, should be equally free from the slightest soil or particle of dust. The more expeditiously the finer kinds of paste are made and despatched to the oven, and the less they are touched the better. Much of their excellence depends upon the baking also.

They should have a sufficient degree of heat to raise them quickly, but not so fierce a one as to colour them too much before they are done, and still less to burn them. The oven door should remain closed after they are put in, and not removed until the paste is set. Large raised pies require a steadily sustained, or, what is technically called a soaking heat, and to ensure this the oven should be made very hot, then cleared, and closely shut from half to a whole hour before it is used, to concentrate the heat. It is an advantage in this case to have a large log or two of cord-wood burned in it, in addition to the usual fuel.

In mixing paste, the water should be added gradually, and the whole gently drawn together with the fingers, until sufficient has been added, when it should be lightly kneaded until it is as smooth as possible. When carelessly made, the surface is often left covered with small dry crumbs or lumps; or the water is poured in heedlessly in so large a proportion that it becomes necessary to add more flour to render it workable in any way; and this ought particularly to be avoided when a certain weight of all the ingredients has been taken.

MODERN POTATO PASTY. (An excellent family dish.)

A tin mould of the construction shown in the plate, with a perforated moveable top, and a small valve to allow the escape of the steam, must be had for this pasty, which is a good family dish, and which may be varied in numberless ways. Arrange at the bottom of the mould from two to three pounds of mutton cutlets, freed, according to the taste, from all, or from the greater portion of the fat, then washed, lightly dredged on both sides with flour, and seasoned with salt and pepper, or cayenne.

Pour to them sufficient broth or water to make the gravy, and add to it at pleasure, a tablespoonful of mushroom catsup or of Harvey’s sauce. Have ready boiled, and very smoothly mashed, with about an ounce of butter, and a spoonful or two of milk or cream to each pound, as many good potatoes as will form a crust to the pasty of quite three inches thick; put the cover on the mould and arrange these equally upon it, leaving them a little rough on the surface. Bake the pasty in a moderate oven from three-quarters of an hour to an hour and a quarter, according to its size and its contents. Pin a folded napkin neatly round the mould, before it is served, and have ready a hot dish to receive the cover, which must not be lifted off until after the pasty is on the table.

Chicken, or veal and oysters; delicate pork chops with a seasoning of sage and a little parboiled onion, or an eschalot or two finely minced; partridges or rabbits neatly carved, mixed with small mushrooms, and moistened with a little good stock, will all give excellent varieties of this dish, which may be made likewise with highly seasoned slices of salmon freed from the skin, sprinkled with fine herbs or intermixed with shrimps; clarified butter, rich veal stock, or good white wine, may be poured to them to form the gravy. To thicken this, a little flour should be dredged upon the fish before it is laid into the mould.

Other kinds, such as cod, mullet, mackerel in fillets, salt fish (previously kept at the point of boiling until three parts done, then pulled into flakes, and put into the mould with hard eggs sliced, a little cream, flour, butter, cayenne, and anchovy-essence, and baked with mashed parsneps on the top), will all answer well for this pasty. Veal, when used for it, should be well beaten first: sweetbreads, sliced, may be laid in with it. For a pasty of moderate size, two pounds, or two and a half of meat, and from three to four of potatoes, will be sufficient; a quarter of a pint of milk or cream, two small teaspoonsful of salt, and from one to two ounces of butter must be mixed up with these last.[115]

115.  A larger proportion of cream and butter well dried into the potatoes over a gentle fire after they are mashed, will render the crust of the pasty richer and finer.

VERY SUPERIOR SUET-CRUST.

Strip the skin entirely from some fresh veal or beef kidney-suet; chop, and then put it into the mortar, with a small quantity of pure-flavoured lard, oil, or butter, and pound it perfectly smooth: it may then be used for crust in the same way that butter is, in making puff-paste, and in this form will be found a most excellent substitute for it, for hot pies or tarts. It is not quite so good for those which are to be served cold. Eight ounces of suet pounded with two of butter, and worked with the fingers into a pound of flour, will make an exceedingly good short crust; but for a very rich one the proportion must be increased.

Good short crust: flour, 1 lb.; suet, 8 oz.; butter, 2 oz.; salt, 1/2 teaspoonful. Richer crust: suet, 16 oz.; butter, 4 oz.; flour, 1-1/2 lb.; salt, 1 small teaspoonful.

COMMON SUET-CRUST FOR PIES.

In many families this is preferred both for pies and tarts, to crust made with butter, as being much more wholesome; but it should never be served unless especially ordered, as it is to some persons peculiarly distasteful. Chop the suet extremely small, and add from six to eight ounces of it to a pound of flour, with a few grains of salt; mix these with cold water into a firm paste, and work it very smooth. Some cooks beat it with a paste-roller, until the suet is perfectly blended with flour; but the crust is lighter without this. In exceedingly sultry weather the suet, not being firm enough to chop, may be sliced as thin as possible, and well beaten into the paste after it is worked up.

Flour, 2 lbs.; beef or veal kidney-suet, 12 to 16 oz.; salt (for fruit-pies), 1/4 teaspoonful, for meat-pies, 1 teaspoonful.

FLEAD CRUST.

Flead is the provincial name for the leaf, or inside fat of a pig, which makes excellent crust when fresh, much finer, indeed, than 348after it is melted into lard. Clear it quite from skin, and slice it very thin into the flour, add sufficient salt to give flavour to the paste, and make the whole up smooth and firm with cold water; lay it on a clean dresser, and beat it forcibly with a rolling-pin until the flead is blended perfectly with the flour. It may then be made into cakes with a paste-cutter, or used for pies, round the edges of which a knife should be passed, as the crust rises better when cut than if merely rolled to the proper size. With the addition of a small quantity of butter, which may either be broken into the flour before the flead is mixed with it, or rolled into the paste after it is beaten, it will be found equal to fine puff crust, with the advantage of being more easy of digestion.

Quite common crust: flour, 1-1/4 lb.; flead, 8 oz.; salt, 1 small teaspoonful. Good common crust: flour, 1 lb.; flead, 6 oz.; butter, 2 oz. Rich crust: flead, 3/4 lb.; butter, 2 oz.; flour, 1 lb. The crust is very good when made without any butter.

PATE BRISÉE, OR FRENCH CRUST FOR HOT OR COLD MEAT PIES.

Sift two pounds and a quarter of fine dry flour, and break into it one pound of butter, work them together with the fingers until they resemble fine crumbs of bread, then add a small teaspoonful of salt, and make them into a firm paste, with the yolks of four eggs, well beaten, mixed with half a pint of cold water, and strained; or for a somewhat richer crust of the same kind, take two pounds of flour, one of butter, the yolks of four eggs, half an ounce of salt, and less than the half pint of water, and work the whole well until the paste is perfectly smooth.

Flour, 2-1/4 lbs.; butter, 1 lb.; salt, 1 small teaspoonful; yolks of eggs, 4; water, 1/2 pint. Or: flour, 2 lbs.; butter, 1 lb.; yolks of eggs, 4; water, less than 1/2 pint.

ENGLISH PUFF-PASTE.

Break lightly into a couple of pounds of dried and sifted flour eight ounces of butter; add a pinch of salt, and sufficient cold water 347to make the paste; work it as quickly and as lightly as possible, until it is smooth and pliable, then level it with the paste-roller until it is three-quarters of an inch thick, and place regularly upon it six ounces of butter in small bits; fold the paste like a blanket pudding, roll it out again, lay on it six ounces more of butter, repeat the rolling, dusting each time a little flour over the board and paste, add again six ounces of butter, and roll the paste out thin three or four times, folding the ends into the middle.

Flour, 2 lbs.; little salt; butter, 1 lb. 10 oz.

If very rich paste be required, equal portions of flour and butter must be used; and the latter may be divided into two, instead of three parts, when it is to be rolled in.

VERY GOOD LIGHT PASTE.

Mix with a pound of sifted flour six ounces of fresh, pure lard, and make them into a smooth paste with cold water; press the buttermilk from ten ounces of butter, and form it into a ball, by twisting it in a clean cloth. Roll out the paste, put the ball of butter in the middle, close it like an apple-dumpling, and roll it very lightly until it is less than an inch thick; fold the ends into the middle, dust a little flour over the board and paste-roller, and roll the paste thin a second time, then set it aside for three or four minutes in a very cool place; give it two more turns, after it has again been left for a few minutes, roll it out twice more, folding it each time in three. This ought to render it fit for use. The sooner this paste is sent to the oven after it is made, the lighter it will be: if allowed to remain long before it is baked, it will be tough and heavy.

Flour, 1 lb.; lard, 6 oz.; butter, 10 oz.; little salt.

TO GLAZE OR ICE PASTRY.

The fine yellow glaze appropriate to meat pies is given with beaten yolk of egg, which should be laid on with a paste brush, or a small bunch of feathers: if a lighter colour be wished for, whisk the whole of the egg together, or mix a little milk with the yolk.

A GOOD COMMON ENGLISH GAME PIE.

Raise the flesh entire from the upper side of the best end of a well-kept neck of venison, trim it to the length of the dish in which the pie is to be served, and rub it with a mixture of salt, cayenne, pounded mace, and nutmeg. Cut down into joints a fine young hare which has hung from eight to fourteen days, bone the back and thighs, and fill them with forcemeat [see recipe below], but put into it a double portion of butter, and a small quantity of minced eschalots, should their flavour be liked, and the raw liver of the hare, chopped small.

Line the dish with a rich short crust, lay the venison in the centre, and the hare closely round and on it; fill the vacant spaces with more forcemeat, add a few spoonsful of well-jellied gravy, fasten on the cover securely, ornament it or not, at pleasure, and bake the pie for two hours in a well heated oven. The remnants and bones of the hare and venison may be stewed down into a small quantity of excellent soup, or with a less proportion of water into an admirable gravy, part of which, after having been cleared from fat, may be poured into the pie.

The jelly, added to its contents at first, can be made, when no such stock is at hand, of a couple of pounds of shin of beef, boiled down in a quart of water, which must be reduced quite half, and seasoned only with a good slice of lean ham, a few peppercorns, seven or eight cloves, a blade of mace, and a little salt. One pound and a half of flour will be sufficient for the crust; this, when it is so preferred, may be laid round the sides only of the dish, instead of entirely over it. The prime joints of a second hare may be substituted for the venison when it can be more easily procured; but the pie made entirely of venison, without the forcemeat, will be far better.

Baked 2 hours.

Obs.—These same ingredients will make an excellent raised pie, if the venison be divided and intermixed with the hare: the whole should be highly seasoned, and all the cavities filled with the forcemeat or with truffled sausage-meat. The top, before the paste is laid over, should be covered with slices of fat bacon, or with plenty of butter, to prevent the surface of the meat from becoming hard. No liquid is to be put into the pie until after it is baked, if at all. It will require from half to a full hour more of the oven than if baked in a dish.

NO. 1. GOOD COMMON FORCEMEAT, FOR ROAST VEAL, TURKEYS, &C. [for recipe above]

Grate very lightly into exceedingly fine crumbs, four ounces of the inside of a stale loaf, and mix thoroughly with it, a quarter of an ounce of lemon-rind pared as thin as possible, and minced extremely small; the same quantity of savoury herbs, of which two-thirds should be parsley, and one-third thyme, likewise finely minced, a little grated nutmeg, a half teaspoonful of salt, and as much common pepper or cayenne as will season the forcemeat sufficiently. Break into these, two ounces of good butter in very small bits, add the unbeaten yolk of one egg, and with the fingers work the whole well together until it is smoothly mixed. It is usual to chop the lemon-rind, but we prefer it lightly grated on a fine grater. It should always be fresh for the purpose, or it will be likely to impart a very unpleasant flavour to the forcemeat. Half the rind of a moderate-sized lemon will be sufficient for this quantity; which for a large turkey must be increased one-half.

Bread-crumbs, 4 oz.; lemon-rind, 1/4 oz. (or grated rind of 1/2 lemon); mixed savoury herbs, minced, 1/4 oz.; salt, 1/2 teaspoonful; pepper, 1/4 to 1/3 of teaspoonful; butter, 2 oz.; yolk, 1 egg.

Obs.—This, to our taste, is a much nicer and more delicate forcemeat than that which is made with suet, and we would recommend it for trial in preference. Any variety of herb or spice may be used to give it flavour, and a little minced onion or eschalot can be added to it also; but these last do not appear to us suited to the meats for which the forcemeat is more particularly intended. Half an ounce of the butter may be omitted on ordinary occasions: and a portion of marjoram or of sweet basil may take the place of part of the thyme and parsley when preferred to them.

MODERN CHICKEN PIE.

Skin, and cut down into joints a couple of fowls, take out all the bones and season the flesh highly with salt, cayenne, pounded mace, and nutmeg; line a dish with a thin paste, and spread over it a layer of the finest sausage-meat, which has previously been moistened with a spoonful or two of cold water; over this place closely together some of the boned chicken joints, then more sausage-meat, and continue thus with alternate layers of each, until the dish is full; roll out, and fasten securely at the edges, a cover half an inch thick, trim off the superfluous paste, make an incision in the top, lay some paste leaves round it, glaze the whole with yolk of egg, and bake the pie from an hour and a half to two hours in a well heated oven. Lay a sheet or two of writing-paper over the crust, should it brown too quickly. Minced herbs can be mixed with the sausage-meat at pleasure, and a small quantity of eschalot also, when its flavour is much liked: it should be well moistened with water, or the whole will be unpalatably dry. The pie may be served hot or cold, but we would rather recommend the latter.

A couple of very young tender rabbits will answer exceedingly well for it instead of fowls, and a border, or half paste in the dish will generally be preferred to an entire lining of the crust, which is now but rarely served, unless for pastry, which is to be taken out of the dish or mould in which it is baked before it is sent to table.

A COMMON CHICKEN PIE.

Prepare the fowls as for boiling, cut them down into joints, and season them with salt, white pepper, and nutmeg or pounded mace; arrange them neatly in a dish bordered with paste, lay amongst them three or four fresh eggs boiled hard, and cut in halves, pour in some cold water, put on a thick cover, pare the edge, and ornament it, make a hole in the centre, lay a roll of paste, or a few leaves round it, and bake the pie in a moderate oven from an hour to an hour and a half. The back and neck bones may be boiled down with a bit or two of lean ham, to make a little additional gravy, which can be poured into the pie after it is baked.

BEEF-STEAK PIE.

From a couple to three pounds of rump-steak will be sufficient for a good family pie. It should be well kept though perfectly sweet, for in no form can tainted meat be more offensive than when it is enclosed in paste. Trim off the coarse skin, and part of the fat should there be much of it (many eaters dislike it altogether in pies, and when this is the case every morsel should be carefully cut away). If the beef should not appear very tender, it may be gently beaten with a paste-roller until the fibre is broken, then divided into slices half as large as the hand, and laid into a dish bordered with paste. It should be seasoned with salt and pepper, or cayenne, and sufficient water poured in to make the gravy, and keep the meat moist. Lay on the cover, and be careful always to brush the edge in every part with egg or cold water, then join it securely to the paste which is round the rim, trim both off close to the dish, pass the point of the knife through the middle of the cover, lay some slight roll or ornament of paste round it, and decorate the border of the pie in any of the usual modes, which are too common to require description. Send the pie to a well-heated, but not fierce oven for about an hour and twenty minutes. To make a richer beef-steak pie put bearded oysters in alternate layers with the meat, add their strained liquor to a little good gravy in which the beards may be simmered for a few minutes to give it further flavour, and make a light puff paste for the crust. Some caters like it seasoned with a small portion of minced onion or eschalot when the oysters are omitted. Mushrooms improve all meat-pies. Veal pies may be made by this receipt, or by the second of those which follow. Slices of lean ham, or parboiled ox-tongue, may be added to them.

1 to 1-1/2 hour.

COMMON MUTTON PIE.

A pound and a quarter of flour will make sufficient paste for a moderate-sized pie, and two pounds of mutton freed from the greater portion of the fat will fill it. Butter a dish and line it with about half the paste rolled thin; lay in the mutton evenly, and sprinkle over it three-quarters of an ounce of salt, and from half to a whole teaspoonful of pepper according to the taste; pour in cold water to within an inch of the brim. Roll the cover, which should be quite half an inch thick, to the size of the dish; wet the edges of the paste with cold water or white of egg, be careful to close them securely, cut them off close to the rim of the dish, stick the point of the knife through the centre, and bake the pie an hour and a quarter in a well-heated oven.

Flour, 1-1/4 lb.; minced suet rather less than 1/2 lb.; or, butter, 4 oz., and very pure lard, 2 or 3 oz.; mutton, 2 lbs.; salt, 3/4 oz.; pepper, half to a whole teaspoonful; water, 1/4 pint: 1-1/4 hour.

A GOOD MUTTON PIE.

Lay a half-paste of short or of puff crust round a buttered dish, take the whole or part of a loin of mutton, strip off the fat entirely, and raise the flesh clear from the bones without dividing it, then slice it into cutlets of equal thickness, season them well with salt and pepper, or cayenne, and strew between the layers some finely-minced herbs mixed with two or three eschalots, when the flavour of these last is liked; or omit them, and roll quite thin some good forcemeat (which can be flavoured with a little minced eschalot at pleasure), and lay it between the cutlets: two or three mutton kidneys intermingled with the meat will greatly enrich the gravy; pour in a little cold water, roll the cover half an inch thick, or more should the crust be short, as it will not rise like puff paste, close the pie very securely, trim the edges even with the dish, ornament the pie according to the taste, make a hole in the centre, and bake it from an hour and a half to a couple of hours. The proportions of paste and meat may be ascertained by consulting the last receipt. Gravy made with part of the bones, quite cleared from fat, and left to become cold, may be used to fill the pie instead of water.

RAISED PIES.

Raised Pie.

These may be made of any size, and with any kind of meat, poultry, or game, but the whole must be entirely free from bone. When the crust is not to be eaten, it is made simply with a few ounces of lard or butter dissolved in boiling water, with which the flour is to be mixed (with a spoon at first, as the heat would be too great for the hands, but afterwards with the fingers) to a smooth and firm paste.

The French, who excel greatly in this form of pie,[117] use for it a good crust which they call a pâté brisée [see recipe below], and this is eaten usually with the meat which it contains. In either case the paste must be sufficiently stiff to retain its form perfectly after it is raised, as it will have no support to prevent its falling.

The celebrated Monsieur Ude gives the following directions for moulding it to a proper shape without difficulty; and as inexperienced cooks generally find a little at first in giving a good appearance to these pies, we copy his instructions for them: “Take a lump of paste proportionate to the size of the pie you are to make, mould it in the shape of a sugar loaf, put it upright on the table, then with the palms of your hands flatten the sides of it; when you have equalized it all round and it is quite smooth, squeeze the middle of the point down to half the height of the paste,” then hollow the inside by pressing it with the fingers, and in doing this be careful to keep it in every part of equal thickness.

Fill it,[118] roll out the cover, egg the edges, press them securely together, make a hole in the centre, lay a roll of paste round it, and encircle this with a wreath of leaves, or ornament the pie in any other way, according to the taste; glaze it with beaten yolk of egg, and bake it from two to three hours in a well-heated oven if it be small, and from four to five hours if it be large; though the time must be regulated in some measure by the nature of the contents, as well as by the size of the dish.

117.  We remember having partaken of one which was brought from Bordeaux, and which contained a small boned ham of delicious flavour, surmounted by boned partridges, above which were placed fine larks likewise boned; all the interstices were filled with super-excellent forcemeat, and the whole, being a solid mass of nourishing viands, would have formed an admirable traveller’s larder in itself.

118.  A ham must be boiled or stewed tender, and freed from the skin and blackened parts before it is laid in; poultry and game boned; and all meat highly seasoned.

Obs.—We know not if we have succeeded in making the reader comprehend that this sort of pie (with the exception of the cover, for which a portion must at first be taken off) is made from one solid lump of paste, which, after having been shaped into a cone, as Monsieur Ude directs, or into a high round, or oval form, is hollowed by pressing down the centre with the knuckles, and continuing to knead the inside equally round with the one hand, while the other is pressed close to the outside. It is desirable that the mode of doing this should be once seen by the learner, if possible, as mere verbal instructions are scarcely sufficient to enable the quite-inexperienced cook to comprehend at once the exact form and appearance which should be given to the paste, and some degree of expertness? is always necessary to mould a pie of this kind well with the fingers only. The first attempts should be made with very small pies, which are less difficult to manage.

PATE BRISÉE, OR FRENCH CRUST FOR HOT OR COLD MEAT PIES. [for recipe above]

Sift two pounds and a quarter of fine dry flour, and break into it one pound of butter, work them together with the fingers until they resemble fine crumbs of bread, then add a small teaspoonful of salt, and make them into a firm paste, with the yolks of four eggs, well beaten, mixed with half a pint of cold water, and strained; or for a somewhat richer crust of the same kind, take two pounds of flour, one of butter, the yolks of four eggs, half an ounce of salt, and less than the half pint of water, and work the whole well until the paste is perfectly smooth.

Flour, 2-1/4 lbs.; butter, 1 lb.; salt, 1 small teaspoonful; yolks of eggs, 4; water, 1/2 pint. Or: flour, 2 lbs.; butter, 1 lb.; yolks of eggs, 4; water, less than 1/2 pint.

A VOL-AU-VENT.

(ENTRÉE.)

This dish can be successfully made only with the finest and lightest puff-paste [see recipe below], as its height, which ought to be from four to five inches, depends entirely on its rising in the oven. Roll it to something more than an inch in thickness, and cut it to the shape and size of the inside of the dish in which it is to be served, or stamp it out with a fluted tin of proper dimensions; then mark the cover evenly about an inch from the edge all round, and ornament it and the border also, with a knife, as fancy may direct; brush yolk of egg quickly over them, and put the vol-au-vent immediately into a brisk oven, that it may rise well, and be finely coloured, but do not allow it to be scorched.

In from twenty to thirty minutes, should it appear baked through, as well as sufficiently browned, draw it out, and with the point of a knife detach the cover carefully where it has been marked, and scoop out all the soft unbaked crumb from the inside of the vol-au-vent; then turn it gently on to a sheet of clean paper, to drain the butter from it.

At the instant of serving, fill it with a rich fricassee of lobster, or of sweetbreads, or with turbot à la crême, or with the white part of cold roast veal cut in thin collops not larger than a shilling, and heated in good white sauce with oysters, or with any other of the preparations which we shall indicate in their proper places, and send it immediately to table.

The vol-au-vent, as the reader will perceive, is but the case, or crust, in which various kinds of delicate ragouts are served in an elegant form. As these are most frequently composed of fish, or of meats which have been already dressed, it is an economical as well as an excellent mode of employing such remains. The sauces in which they are heated must be quite thick, for they would otherwise soften, or even run through the crust.

This, we ought to observe, should be examined before it is filled, and should any part appear too thin, a portion of the crumb which has been taken out, should be fastened to it with some beaten egg, and the whole of the inside brushed lightly with more egg, in order to make the loose parts of the vol-au-vent stick well together. This method is recommended by an admirable and highly experienced cook, but it need only be resorted to when the crust is not solid enough to hold the contents securely.

For moderate-sized vol-au-vent, flour, 1/2 lb.; butter, 1/2 lb.; salt, small saltspoonful; yolk, 1 egg; little water. Larger vol-au-vent, 3/4 lb. flour; other ingredients in proportion: baked 20 to 30 minutes.

Obs.—When the vol-au-vent is cut out with the fluted cutter, a second, some sizes smaller, after being just dipped into hot water, should be pressed nearly half through the paste, to mark the cover. The border ought to be from three-quarters of an inch to an inch and a half wide.

FEUILLETAGE, OR FINE FRENCH PUFF PASTE. [for recipe above]

This, when made by a good French cook, is the perfection of rich light paste, and will rise in the oven from one to six inches in height: but some practice is, without doubt, necessary to accomplish this. In summer it is a great advantage to have ice at hand, and to harden the butter over it before it is used; the paste also between the intervals of rolling is improved by being laid on an oven-leaf over a vessel containing it.

Take an equal weight of good butter free from the coarse salt which is found in some, and which is disadvantageous for this paste, and of fine dry, sifted flour; to each pound of these allow the yolks of a couple of eggs, and a small teaspoonful of salt. Break a few small bits of the butter very lightly into the flour, put the salt into the centre, and pour on it sufficient water to dissolve it (we do not understand why the doing this should be better than mixing it with the flour, as in other pastes, but such is the method always pursued for it); add a little more water to the eggs, moisten the flour gradually, and make it into a very smooth paste, rather lithe in summer, and never exceedingly stiff, though the opposite fault, in the extreme, would render the crust unmanageable. Press, in a soft thin cloth, all the moisture from the remainder of the butter and form it into a ball, but in doing this be careful not to soften it too much. Should it be in an unfit state for pastry from the heat of the weather, put it into a basin, and set the basin into a pan of water mixed with plenty of salt and saltpetre, and let it remain in a cool place for an hour if possible before it is used.

When it is ready (and the paste should never be commenced until it is so), roll the crust out square,[113] and of sufficient size to enclose the butter, flatten this a little upon it in the centre, and then fold the crust well over it, and roll it out thin as lightly as possible, after having dredged the board and paste roller with a little flour: this is called giving it one turn. Then fold it in three, give it another turn, and set it aside where it will be very cool, for a few minutes; give it two more turns in the same way, rolling it each time very lightly but of equal thickness, and to the full length that it will reach, taking always especial care that the butter shall not break through the paste. Let it again be set aside to become cold; and after it has been twice more rolled and folded in three, give it a half turn, by folding it once only, and it will be ready for use.

113.  The learner will perhaps find it easier to fold the paste securely round it in the form of a dumpling, until a little experience has been acquired.

Equal weight of the finest flour and good butter; to each pound of these, the yolks of two eggs, and a small saltspoonful of salt: 6-1/2 turns to be given to the paste.

OYSTER PATTIES.

(ENTRÉE).

These patties should be made small, with a thin crust, and well filled with the oysters and their sauce. The substitution of fried crumbs for the covers will vary them very agreeably. For lobster patties, prepare the fish as for a vol-au-vent but cut it smaller.

Line some small pattypans with fine puff-paste, rolled thin and to preserve their form when baked, put a bit of bread into each; lay on the covers, pinch and trim the edges, and send the patties to a brisk oven. Plump and beard from two to three dozens of small oysters; mix very smoothly a teaspoonful of flour with an ounce of butter, put them into a clean saucepan, shake them round over a gentle fire, and let them simmer for two or three minutes; throw in a little salt, pounded mace, and cayenne, then add, by slow degrees, two or three spoonsful of rich cream, give these a boil, and pour in the strained liquor of the oysters; next, lay in the fish, and keep at the point of boiling for a couple of minutes.

Raise the covers from the patties, take out the bread, fill them with the oysters and their sauce, and replace the covers. We have found it an improvement to stew the beards of the fish with a strip or two of lemon-peel, in a little good veal stock for a quarter of an hour, then to strain and add it to the sauce. The oysters, unless very small, should be once or twice divided.

GOOD CHICKEN PATTIES.

(ENTRÉE.)

Raise the white flesh entirely from a young undressed fowl, divide it once or twice, and lay it into a small clean saucepan, in which about an ounce of butter has been dissolved, and just begins to simmer; strew in a slight seasoning of salt, mace, and cayenne, and stew the chicken very softly indeed for about ten minutes, taking every precaution against its browning: turn it into a dish with the butter, and its own gravy, and let it become cold.

Mince it with a sharp knife; heat it, without allowing it to boil, in a little good white sauce (which may be made of some of the bones of the fowl), and fill ready-baked patty-crusts, or small vol-au-vents with it, just before they are sent to table; or stew the flesh only just sufficiently to render it firm, mix it after it is minced and seasoned with a spoonful or two of strong gravy, fill the patties, and bake them from fifteen to eighteen minutes. It is a great improvement to stew and mince a few mushrooms with the chicken.

The breasts of cold turkeys, fowls, partridges, or pheasants, or the white part of cold veal, minced, heated in a béchamel sauce, will serve at once for patties: they may also be made of cold game, heated in an Espagnole, or in a good brown gravy.

PATTIES À LA PONTIFE. (A fast day, or Maigre dish.)

(ENTRÉE.)

Mince, but not very small, the yolks of six fresh hard-boiled eggs; mince also and mix with them a couple of fine truffles,[120] a large saltspoonful of salt, half the quantity of mace and nutmeg, and a fourth as much of cayenne. Moisten these ingredients with a spoonful of thick cream, or béchamel maigre, or with a dessertspoonful of clarified butter; line the patty-moulds, fill them with the mixture, cover, and bake them from twelve to fifteen minutes in a moderate oven. They are excellent made with the cream-crust [see recipe below].

120.  The bottled ones will answer well for these.

Yolks hard-boiled eggs, 6; truffles, 2 large; seasoning of salt, mace, nutmeg, and cayenne; cream, or béchamel maigre, 1 tablespoonful, or clarified butter, 1 dessertspoonful: baked moderate oven, 12 to 15 minutes.

Obs.—A spoonful or two of jellied stock or gravy, or of good white sauce, converts these into admirable patties: the same ingredients make also very superior rolls or cannelons. For Patties à la Cardinale, small mushroom-buttons stewed., before they are minced, must be substituted for truffles; and the butter in which they are simmered should be added with them to the eggs.

CREAM CRUST. (Authors Receipt. Very good.)

Stir a little fine salt into a pound of dry flour, and mix gradually with it sufficient very thick, sweet cream to form a smooth paste; it will be found sufficiently good for common family dinners, without the addition of butter; but to make an excellent crust, roll in four ounces in the usual way, after having given the paste a couple of turns. Handle it as lightly as possible in making it, and send it to the oven as soon as it is ready: it may be used for fruit tarts, cannelons, puffs, and other varieties of small pastry, or for good meat pies. Six ounces of butter to the pound of flour will give a very rich crust.

Flour, 1 lb.; salt, 1 small saltspoonful (more for meat pies); rich cream, 1/2 to 3/4 pint; butter, 4 oz.; for richest crust, 6 oz.

Victorian Recipes from HIGH-CLASS COOKERY MADE EASY. [Economical Cookery] By Mrs. Hart. [1880]

BEEFSTEAK PIE.

One pound of the best beefsteak beaten and sprinkled with pepper and salt. Cut in square pieces, dredge with flour and roll up in neat rolls, with a little chopped onions. Place at the bottom of the dish two sheep’s kidneys, cut in slices, and two hard-boiled eggs laid through the pie, and cover with puff paste. A few drops of sauce and two glasses of stock may be added to the pie.

RABBIT PIE.

Cut up a rabbit into joints, each leg in two, the back in three pieces, the breast in two pieces. Pepper and salt, dust with flour; boil two eggs hard, and cut them in quarters, cut a small onion in small pieces; place some onions at the bottom of the dish, then a layer of rabbit and some slices of bacon and hard-boiled eggs. Fill the dish with rabbit, add a few drops of Worcestershire sauce, two glasses of stock or water. Cover with American paste. [see recipes below]

The Different Kinds of Paste [recipes]

Paste No. 1.—PUFF PASTE.

Wet four ounces of flour with cold water to a dough, as stiff as for a breakfast roll; roll out and lay four ounces of fresh butter in pieces on the paste; fold over and roll out four times, and set away to raise in a cold place for three hours. Give the paste three turns more, and it is ready for use. Care must be taken not to dust too much flour on; rolling it at a cold slab or slate, with hands washed in cold water and salt, is an improvement to this paste. A very hot oven is needed to cook it. Do not allow the oven door to be opened, to let the draught in, as this is bad for it.

Paste No. 2.—SHORT CRUST.

Take half-a-pound of butter, one pound of flour, one egg, and a glass of milk, and two ounces of sugar; rub the butter and flour to crumbs, then add the egg and a glass of milk; knead to a stiff dough, and bake in a moderate oven; time, half-an-hour.

Paste No. 3.—PLAIN AMERICAN CRUST.

Take one pound of flour, two tea-spoonfuls of baking-powder, six ounces of butter, rubbed to crumbs by rubbing it the one way; a pinch of salt if for a meat dish, and for a sweet dish a spoonful of sugar. Make a hole in the centre, and draw the flour all in, wet with cold water to the stiffness of soda scones; bake in a moderate oven.

Paste No. 4.—HARD PASTE FOR RAISED PIES.

Put one pound of flour on to a slab, rub in three ounces of clarified fat, and a pinch of salt; wet with hot water, not very soft, and knead for half-an-hour to get it stiff. This paste will do for raised pies or mutton pies.

Paste No. 5.—SUET CRUST.

Mince fine eight ounces of suet, and mix it into one pound of flour and a pinch of salt. This paste must not be worked much, and is used for steamed or boiled crust. Boiled crust requires to boil from twenty minutes to two hours, depending on what size is boiling. This crust could be baked as well as steamed.

Victorian Recipes for Pastry from Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management [1861]

VERY GOOD PUFF-PASTE. [1205]

1205. INGREDIENTS.—To every lb. of flour allow 1 lb. of butter, and not quite 1/2 pint of water.

Mode.—Carefully weigh the flour and butter, and have the exact proportion; squeeze the butter well, to extract the water from it, and afterwards wring it in a clean cloth, that no moisture may remain. Sift the flour; see that it is perfectly dry, and proceed in the following manner to make the paste, using a very clean paste-board and rolling-pin:—Supposing the quantity to be 1 lb. of flour, work the whole into a smooth paste, with not quite 1/2 pint of water, using a knife to mix it with: the proportion of this latter ingredient must be regulated by the discretion of the cook; if too much be added, the paste, when baked, will be tough. Roll it out until it is of an equal thickness of about an inch; break 4 oz. of the butter into small pieces; place these on the paste, sift over it a little flour, fold it over, roll out again, and put another 4 oz. of butter. Repeat the rolling and buttering until the paste has been rolled out 4 times, or equal quantities of flour and butter have been used. Do not omit, every time the paste is rolled out, to dredge a little flour over that and the rolling-pin, to prevent both from sticking. Handle the paste as lightly as possible, and do not press heavily upon it with the rolling-pin. The next thing to be considered is the oven, as the baking of pastry requires particular attention. Do not put it into the oven until it is sufficiently hot to raise the paste; for the best-prepared paste, if not properly baked, will be good for nothing. Brushing the paste as often as rolled out, and the pieces of butter placed thereon, with the white of an egg, assists it to rise in leaves or flakes. As this is the great beauty of puff-paste, it is as well to try this method.

Average cost, 1s. 4d. per lb.

BUTTER.—About the second century of the Christian era, butter was placed by Galen amongst the useful medical agents; and about a century before him, Dioscorides mentioned that he had noticed that fresh butter, made of ewes’ and goats’ milk, was served at meals instead of oil, and that it took the place of fat in making pastry. Thus we have undoubted authority that, eighteen hundred years ago, there existed a knowledge of the useful qualities of butter. The Romans seem to have set about making it much as we do; for Pliny tells us, “Butter is made from milk; and the use of this element, so much sought after by barbarous nations, distinguished the rich from the common people. It is obtained principally from cows’ milk; that from ewes is the fattest; goats also supply some. It is produced by agitating the milk in long vessels with narrow openings: a little water is added.”

MEDIUM PUFF-PASTE. [1206]

1206. INGREDIENTS.—To every lb. of flour allow 8 oz. of butter, 4 oz. of lard, not quite 1/2 pint of water.

Mode.—This paste may be made by the directions in the preceding recipe, only using less butter and substituting lard for a portion of it. Mix the flour to a smooth paste with not quite 1/2 pint of water; then roll it out 3 times, the first time covering the paste with butter, the second with lard, and the third with butter. Keep the rolling-pin and paste slightly dredged with flour, to prevent them from sticking, and it will be ready for use.

Average cost, 1s. per lb.

BUTTER IN HASTE.—In his “History of Food,” Soyer says that to obtain butter instantly, it is only necessary, in summer, to put new milk into a bottle, some hours after it has been taken from the cow, and shake it briskly. The clots which are thus formed should be thrown into a sieve, washed and pressed together, and they constitute the finest and most delicate butter that can possibly be made.

COMMON PASTE, for Family Pies. [1207]

1207. INGREDIENTS.—1-1/4 lb. of flour, 1/2 lb. of butter, rather more than 1/2 pint of water.

Mode.—Rub the butter lightly into the flour, and mix it to a smooth paste with the water; roll it out 2 or 3 times, and it will be ready for use. This paste may be converted into an excellent short crust for sweet tart, by adding to the flour, after the butter is rubbed in, 2 tablespoonfuls of fine-sifted sugar.

Average cost, 8d. per lb.

TO KEEP BUTTER FRESH.—One of the best means to preserve butter fresh is, first to completely press out all the buttermilk, then to keep it under water, renewing the water frequently, and to remove it from the influence of heat and air, by wrapping it in a wet cloth.

FRENCH PUFF-PASTE, or FEUILLETAGE. [1208]

(Founded on M. Ude’s Recipe.)

1208. INGREDIENTS.—Equal quantities of flour and butter—say 1 lb. of each; 1/2 saltspoonful of salt, the yolks of 2 eggs, rather more than 1/4 pint of water.

Mode.—Weigh the flour; ascertain that it is perfectly dry, and sift it; squeeze all the water from the butter, and wring it in a clean cloth till there is no moisture remaining. Put the flour on the paste-board, work lightly into it 2 oz. of the butter, and then make a hole in the centre; into this well put the yolks of 2 eggs, the salt, and about 1/4 pint of water (the quantity of this latter ingredient must be regulated by the cook, as it is impossible to give the exact proportion of it); knead up the paste quickly and lightly, and, when quite smooth, roll it out square to the thickness of about 1/2 inch. Presuming that the butter is perfectly free from moisture, and as cool as possible, roll it into a ball, and place this ball of butter on the paste; fold the paste over the butter all round, and secure it by wrapping it well all over. Flatten the paste by rolling it lightly with the rolling-pin until it is quite thin, but not thin enough to allow the butter to break through, and keep the board and paste dredged lightly with flour during the process of making it. This rolling gives it the first turn. Now fold the paste in three, and roll out again, and, should the weather be very warm, put it in a cold place on the ground to cool between the several turns; for, unless this is particularly attended to, the paste will be spoiled. Roll out the paste again twice, put it by to cool, then roll it out twice more, which will make 6 turnings in all. Now fold the paste in two, and it will be ready for use. If properly baked and well made, this crust will be delicious, and should rise in the oven about 5 or 6 inches. The paste should be made rather firm in the first instance, as the ball of butter is liable to break through. Great attention must also be paid to keeping the butter very cool, as, if this is in a liquid and soft state, the paste will not answer at all. Should the cook be dexterous enough to succeed in making this, the paste will have a much better appearance than that made by the process of dividing the butter into 4 parts, and placing it over the rolled-out paste; but, until experience has been acquired, we recommend puff-paste made by recipe No. 1205. The above paste is used for vols-au-vent, small articles of pastry, and, in fact, everything that requires very light crust.

Average cost, 1s. 6d. per lb.

WHAT TO DO WITH RANCID BUTTER.—When butter has become very rancid, it should be melted several times by a moderate heat, with or without the addition of water, and as soon as it has been well kneaded, after the cooling, in order to extract any water it may have retained, it should be put into brown freestone pots, sheltered from the contact of the air. The French often add to it, after it has been melted, a piece of toasted bread, which helps to destroy the tendency of the batter to rancidity.

SOYER’S RECIPE FOR PUFF-PASTE. [1209]

1209. INGREDIENTS.—To every lb. of flour allow the yolk of 1 egg, the juice of 1 lemon, 1/2 saltspoonful of salt, cold water, 1 lb. of fresh butter.

Mode.—Put the flour on to the paste-board; make a hole in the centre, into which put the yolk of the egg, the lemon-juice, and salt; mix the whole with cold water (this should be iced in summer, if convenient) into a soft flexible paste, with the right hand, and handle it as little as possible; then squeeze all the buttermilk from the butter, wring it in a cloth, and roll out the paste; place the butter on this, and fold the edges of the paste over, so as to hide it; roll it out again to the thickness of 1/4 inch; fold over one third, over which again pass the rolling-pin; then fold over the other third, thus forming a square; place it with the ends, top, and bottom before you, shaking a little flour both under and over, and repeat the rolls and turns twice again, as before. Flour a baking-sheet, put the paste on this, and let it remain on ice or in some cool place for 1/2 hour; then roll twice more, turning it as before; place it again upon the ice for 1/4 hour, give it 2 more rolls, making 7 in all, and it is ready for use when required.

Average cost, 1s. 6d. per lb.

DRIPPING CRUST, for Kitchen Puddings, Pies, &c. [1214]

1214. INGREDIENTS.—To every lb. of flour allow 6 oz. of clarified beef dripping, 1/2 pint of water.

Mode.—After having clarified the dripping, by either of the recipes No. 621 or 622, weigh it, and to every lb. of flour allow the above proportion of dripping. With a knife, work the flour into a smooth paste with the water, rolling it out 3 times, each time placing on the crust 2 oz. of the dripping, broken into small pieces. If this paste is lightly made, if good dripping is used, and not too much of it, it will be found good; and by the addition of two tablespoonfuls of fine moist sugar, it may be converted into a common short crust for fruit pies.

Average cost, 4d. per pound.

WATER:—WHAT THE ANCIENTS THOUGHT OF IT.—All the nations of antiquity possessed great veneration for water: thus, the Egyptians offered prayers and homage to water, and the Nile was an especial object of their adoration; the Persians would not wash their hands; the Scythians honoured the Danube; the Greeks and Romans erected altars to the fountains and rivers; and some of the architectural embellishments executed for fountains in Greece were remarkable for their beauty and delicacy. The purity of the water was a great object of the care of the ancients; and we learn that the Athenians appointed four officers to keep watch and ward over the water in their city. These men had to keep the fountains in order and clean the reservoirs, so that the water might be preserved pure and limpid. Like officers were appointed in other Greek cities.

SUET CRUST, for Pies or Puddings. [1215]

1215. INGREDIENTS.—To every lb. of flour allow 5 or 6 oz. of beef suet, 1/2 pint of water.

Mode.—Free the suet from skin and shreds; chop it extremely fine, and rub it well into the flour; work the whole to a smooth paste with the above proportion of water; roll it out, and it is ready for use. This crust is quite rich enough for ordinary purposes, but when a better one is desired, use from 1/2 to 3/4 lb. of suet to every lb. of flour. Some cooks, for rich crusts, pound the suet in a mortar, with a small quantity of butter. It should then be laid on the paste in small pieces, the same as for puff-crust, and will be found exceedingly nice for hot tarts. 5 oz. of suet to every lb. of flour will make a very good crust; and even 1/4 lb. will answer very well for children, or where the crust is wanted very plain.

Average cost, 5d. per lb.

PATE BRISEE, or FRENCH CRUST, for Raised Pies. [1216]

1216. INGREDIENTS.—To every lb. of flour allow 1/2 saltspoonful of salt, 2 eggs, 1/3 pint of water, 6 oz. of butter.

Mode.—Spread the flour, which should be sifted and thoroughly dry, on the paste-board; make a hole in the centre, into which put the butter; work it lightly into the flour, and when quite fine, add the salt; work the whole into a smooth paste with the eggs (yolks and whites) and water, and make it very firm. Knead the paste well, and let it be rather stiff, that the sides of the pie may be easily raised, and that they do not afterwards tumble or shrink.

Average cost, 1s. per lb.

Note.—This paste may be very much enriched by making it with equal quantities of flour and butter; but then it is not so easily raised as when made plainer.

WATER SUPPLY IN ROME.—Nothing in Italy is more extraordinary than the remains of the ancient aqueducts. At first, the Romans were contented with the water from the Tiber. Ancus Martius was the first to commence the building of aqueducts destined to convey the water of the fountain of Piconia from Tibur to Rome, a distance of some 33,000 paces. Appius Claudius continued the good work, and to him is due the completion of the celebrated Appian Way. In time, the gigantic waterways greatly multiplied, and, by the reign of Nero, there were constructed nine principal aqueducts, the pipes of which were of bricks, baked tiles, stone, lead, or wood. According to the calculation of Vigenerus, half a million hogsheads of water were conveyed into Rome every day, by upwards of 10,000 small pipes not one-third of an inch in diameter. The water was received in large closed basins, above which rose splendid monuments: these basins supplied other subterranean conduits, connected with various quarters of the city, and these conveyed water to small reservoirs furnished with taps for the exclusive use of certain streets. The water which was not drinkable ran out, by means of large pipes, into extensive inclosures, where it served to water cattle. At these places the people wished their linen; and here, too, was a supply of the necessary element in case of fire.

COMMON CRUST FOR RAISED PIES. [Hot water paste 1217]

1217. INGREDIENTS.—To every lb. of flour allow 1/2 pint of water, 1-1/2 oz. of butter, 1-1/2 oz. of lard, 1/2 saltspoonful of salt.

Mode.—Put into a saucepan the water; when it boils, add the butter and lard; and when these are melted, make a hole in the middle of the flour; pour in the water gradually; beat it well with a wooden spoon, and be particular in not making the paste too soft. When it is well mixed, knead it with the hands until quite stiff, dredging a little flour over the paste and board, to prevent them from sticking. When it is well kneaded, place it before the fire, with a cloth covered over it, for a few minutes; it will then be more easily worked into shape. This paste does not taste so nicely as the preceding one, but is worked with greater facility, and answers just as well for raised pies, for the crust is seldom eaten.

Average cost, 5d, per lb.

LARD OR FLEAD CRUST. [1218]

1218. INGREDIENTS.—To every lb. of flour allow 1/2 lb. of lard or flead, 1/2 pint of water, 1/2 saltspoonful of salt.

Mode.—Clear the flead free from skin, and slice it into thin flakes; rub it into the flour, add the salt, and work the whole into a smooth paste, with the above proportion of water; fold the paste over two or three times, beat it well with the rolling-pin, roll it out, and it will be ready for use. The crust made from this will be found extremely light, and may be made into cakes or tarts; it may also be very much enriched by adding more flead to the same proportion of flour.

Average cost, 8d. per lb.

NUTRITIOUS QUALITIES OF FLOUR.—The gluten of grain and the albumen of vegetable juices are identical in composition with the albumen of blood. Vegetable caseine has also the composition of animal caseine. The finest wheat flour contains more starch than the coarser; the bran of wheat is proportionably richer in gluten. Rye and rye-bread contain a substance resembling starch-gum (or dextrine, as it is called) in its properties, which is very easily converted into sugar. The starch of barley approaches in many properties to cellulose, and is, therefore, less digestible. Oats are particularly rich in plastic substances; Scotch oats are richer than those grown in England or in Germany. This kind of grain contains in its ashes, after deduction of the silica of the husks, very nearly the same ingredients as are found in the ashes of the juice of flesh. Fine American flour is one of the varieties which is richest in gluten, and is consequently one of the most nutritious.

TO GLAZE PASTRY. [1334]

1334. To glaze pastry, which is the usual method adopted for meat or raised pies, break an egg, separate the yolk from the white, and beat the former for a short time. Then, when the pastry is nearly baked, take it out of the oven, brush it over with this beaten yolk of egg, and put it back in the oven to set the glaze.

Victorian Savoury pie recipes from Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management [1861]

BEEF-STEAK PIE.

604. INGREDIENTS.—3 lbs. of rump-steak, seasoning to taste of salt, cayenne, and black pepper, crust, water, the yolk of an egg.

Mode.—Have the steaks cut from a rump that has hung a few days, that they may be tender, and be particular that every portion is perfectly sweet. Cut the steaks into pieces about 3 inches long and 2 wide, allowing a small piece of fat to each piece of lean, and arrange the meat in layers in a pie-dish. Between each layer sprinkle a seasoning of salt, pepper, and, when liked, a few grains of cayenne. Fill the dish sufficiently with meat to support the crust, and to give it a nice raised appearance when baked, and not to look flat and hollow. Pour in sufficient water to half fill the dish, and border it with paste (see Pastry); brush it over with a little water, and put on the cover; slightly press down the edges with the thumb, and trim off close to the dish. Ornament the pie with leaves, or pieces of paste cut in any shape that fancy may direct, brush it over with the beaten yolk of an egg; make a hole in the top of the crust, and bake in a hot oven for about 1-1/2 hour.

Time.—In a hot oven, 1-1/2 hour.

Average cost, for this size, 3s 6d.

Sufficient for 6 or 8 persons.

Seasonable at any time.

Note.—Beef-steak pies may be flavoured in various ways, with oysters and their liquor, mushrooms, minced onions, &c. For family pies, suet may be used instead of butter or lard for the crust, and clarified beef-dripping answers very well where economy is an object. Pieces of underdone roast or boiled meat may in pies be used very advantageously; but always remove the bone from pie-meat, unless it be chicken or game. We have directed that the meat shall be cut smaller than is usually the case; for on trial we have found it much more tender, more easily helped, and with more gravy, than when put into the dish in one or two large steaks.

PORK PIES (Warwickshire Recipe).

835. INGREDIENTS.—For the crust, 5 lbs. of lard to 14 lbs. of flour, milk, and water. For filling the pies, to every 3 lbs. of meat allow 1 oz. of salt, 2-1/4 oz. of pepper, a small quantity of cayenne, 1 pint of water.

Mode.—Rub into the flour a portion of the lard; the remainder put with sufficient milk and water to mix the crust, and boil this gently for 1/4 hour. Pour it boiling on the flour, and knead and beat it till perfectly smooth. Now raise the crust in either a round or oval form, cut up the pork into pieces the size of a nut, season it in the above proportion, and press it compactly into the pie, in alternate layers of fat and lean, and pour in a small quantity of water; lay on the lid, cut the edges smoothly round, and pinch them together. Bake in a brick oven, which should be slow, as the meat is very solid. Very frequently, the inexperienced cook finds much difficulty in raising the crust. She should bear in mind that it must not be allowed to get cold, or it will fall immediately: to prevent this, the operation should be performed as near the fire as possible. As considerable dexterity and expertness are necessary to raise the crust with the hand only, a glass bottle or small jar may be placed in the middle of the paste, and the crust moulded on this; but be particular that it is kept warm the whole time.

Sufficient.—The proportions for 1 pie are 1 lb. of flour and 3 lbs. of meat.

Seasonable from September to March.

LITTLE RAISED PORK PIES.

836. INGREDIENTS.—2 lbs. of flour, 1/2 lb. of butter, 1/2 lb. of mutton suet, salt and white pepper to taste, 4 lbs. of the neck of pork, 1 dessertspoonful of powdered sage.

Mode.—Well dry the flour, mince the suet, and put these with the butter into a saucepan, to be made hot, and add a little salt. When melted, mix it up into a stiff paste, and put it before the fire with a cloth over it until ready to make up; chop the pork into small pieces, season it with white pepper, salt, and powdered sage; divide the paste into rather small pieces, raise it in a round or oval form, fill with the meat, and bake in a brick oven. These pies will require a fiercer oven than those in the preceding recipe, as they are made so much smaller, and consequently do not require so soaking a heat.

Time.—If made small, about 1-1/2 hour.

Seasonable from September to March.

SWINEHERDS OF ANTIQUITY.—From the prejudice against the hog among the ancients, those who tended them formed an isolated class, and were esteemed as the outcasts of society. However much the flesh of the animal was esteemed by the Greeks and Romans, yet the swineherd is not mentioned by either the classic writers or the poets who, in ancient Greece and Rome, painted rural life. We have no descriptions of gods or heroes descending to the occupation of keeping swine. The swineherd is never introduced into the idyls of Theocritus, nor has Virgil admitted him into his eclogues. The Eumaeus of Homer is the only exception that we have of a swineherd meeting with favour in the eyes of a poet of antiquity. This may be accounted for, on the supposition that the prejudices of the Egyptians relative to this class of men, extended to both Greece and Italy, and imparted a bias to popular opinion.

VEAL PIE.

897. INGREDIENTS.—2 lbs. of veal cutlets, 1 or 2 slices of lean bacon or ham, pepper and salt to taste, 2 tablespoonfuls of minced savoury herbs, 2 blades of pounded mace, crust, 1 teacupful of gravy.

Mode.—Cut the cutlets into square pieces, and season them with pepper, salt, and pounded mace; put them in a pie-dish with the savoury herbs sprinkled over, and 1 or 2 slices of lean bacon or ham placed at the top: if possible, this should be previously cooked, as undressed bacon makes the veal red, and spoils its appearance. Pour in a little water, cover with crust, ornament it in any way that is approved; brush it over with the yolk of an egg, and bake in a well-heated oven for about 1-1/2 hour. Pour in a good gravy after baking, which is done by removing the top ornament, and replacing it after the gravy is added.

Time.—About 1-1/2 hour. Average cost, 2s. 6d.

Sufficient for 5 or 6 persons.

Seasonable from March to October.

A VERY VEAL DINNER.—At a dinner given by Lord Polkemmet, a Scotch nobleman and judge, his guests saw, when the covers were removed, that the fare consisted of veal broth, a roasted fillet of veal, veal cutlets, a veal pie, a calf’s head, and calf’s-foot jelly. The judge, observing the surprise of his guests, volunteered an explanation.—”Oh, ay, it’s a’ cauf; when we kill a beast, we just eat up ae side, and doun the tither.”

VEAL AND HAM PIE.

898. INGREDIENTS.—2 lbs. of veal cutlets, 1/2 lb. of boiled ham, 2 tablespoonfuls of minced savoury herbs, 1/4 teaspoonful of grated nutmeg, 2 blades of pounded mace, pepper and salt to taste, a strip of lemon-peel finely minced, the yolks of 2 hard-boiled eggs, 1/2 pint of water, nearly 1/2 pint of good strong gravy, puff-crust.

Mode.—Cut the veal into nice square pieces, and put a layer of them at the bottom of a pie-dish; sprinkle over these a portion of the herbs, spices, seasoning, lemon-peel, and the yolks of the eggs cut in slices; cut the ham very thin, and put a layer of this in. Proceed in this manner until the dish is full, so arranging it that the ham comes at the top. Lay a puff-paste on the edge of the dish, and pour in about 1/2 pint of water; cover with crust, ornament it with leaves, brush it over with the yolk of an egg, and bake in a well-heated oven for 1 to 1-1/2 hour, or longer, should the pie be very large. When it is taken out of the oven, pour in at the top, through a funnel, nearly 1/2 pint of strong gravy: this should be made sufficiently good that, when cold, it may cut in a firm jelly. This pie may be very much enriched by adding a few mushrooms, oysters, or sweetbreads; but it will be found very good without any of the last-named additions.

Time.—1-1/2 hour, or longer, should the pie be very large. Average cost, 3s. Sufficient for 5 or 6 persons. Seasonable from March to October.

CHICKEN OR FOWL PIE.

929. INGREDIENTS.—2 small fowls or 1 large one, white pepper and salt to taste, 1/2 teaspoonful of grated nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoonful of pounded mace, forcemeat No. 417, a few slices of ham, 3 hard-boiled eggs, 1/2 pint of water, puff crust.

Mode.—Skin and cut up the fowls into joints, and put the neck, leg, and backbones in a stewpan, with a little water, an onion, a bunch of savoury herbs, and a blade of mace; let these stew for about an hour, and, when done, strain off the liquor: this is for gravy. Put a layer of fowl at the bottom of a pie-dish, then a layer of ham, then one of forcemeat and hard-boiled eggs cut in rings; between the layers put a seasoning of pounded mace, nutmeg, pepper, and salt. Proceed in this manner until the dish is full, and pour in about 1/2 pint of water; border the edge of the dish with puff crust, put on the cover, ornament the top, and glaze it by brushing over it the yolk of an egg. Bake from 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 hour, should the pie be very large, and, when done, pour in, at the top, the gravy made from the bones. If to be eaten cold, and wished particularly nice, the joints of the fowls should be boned, and placed in the dish with alternate layers of forcemeat; sausage-meat may also be substituted for the forcemeat, and is now very much used. When the chickens are boned, and mixed with sausage-meat, the pie will take about 2 hours to bake. It should be covered with a piece of paper when about half-done, to prevent the paste from being dried up or scorched.

Time.—For a pie with unboned meat, 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 hour; with boned meat and sausage or forcemeat, 1-1/2 to 2 hours.

Average cost, with 2 fowls, 6s. 6d.

Sufficient for 6 or 7 persons.

Seasonable at any time.

GIBLET PIE.

966. INGREDIENTS.—A set of duck or goose giblets, 1 lb. of rump-steak, 1 onion, 1/2 teaspoonful of whole black pepper, a bunch of savoury herbs, plain crust.

Mode.—Clean, and put the giblets into a stewpan with an onion, whole pepper, and a bunch of savoury herbs; add rather more than a pint of water, and simmer gently for about 1-1/2 hour. Take them out, let them cool, and cut them into pieces; line the bottom of a pie-dish with a few pieces of rump-steak; add a layer of giblets and a few more pieces of steak; season with pepper and salt, and pour in the gravy (which should be strained), that the giblets were stewed in; cover with a plain crust, and bake for rather more than 1-1/2 hour in a brisk oven. Cover a piece of paper over the pie, to prevent the crust taking too much colour.

Time.—1-1/2 hour to stew the giblets, about 1 hour to bake the pie.

Average cost, exclusive of the giblets, 1s. 4d.

Sufficient for 5 or 6 persons.

LARK PIE (an Entree).

971. INGREDIENTS.—A few thin slices of beef, the same of bacon, 9 larks, flour; for stuffing, 1 teacupful of bread crumbs, 1/2 teaspoonful of minced lemon-peel, 1 teaspoonful of minced parsley, 1 egg, salt and pepper to taste, 1 teaspoonful of chopped shalot, 1/2 pint of weak stock or water, puff-paste.

Mode.—Make a stuffing of bread crumbs, minced lemon-peel, parsley, and the yolk of an egg, all of which should be well mixed together; roll the larks in flour, and stuff them. Line the bottom of a pie-dish with a few slices of beef and bacon; over these place the larks, and season with salt, pepper, minced parsley, and chopped shalot, in the above proportion. Pour in the stock or water, cover with crust, and bake for an hour in a moderate oven. During the time the pie is baking, shake it 2 or 3 times, to assist in thickening the gravy, and serve very hot.

Time.—1 hour. Average cost, 1s. 6d. a dozen.

Sufficient for 5 or 6 persons.

Seasonable.—In full season in November.

PIGEON PIE (Epsom Grand-Stand Recipe).

975. INGREDIENTS.—1-1/2 lb. of rump-steak, 2 or 3 pigeons, 3 slices of ham, pepper and salt to taste, 2 oz. of butter, 4 eggs, puff crust.

Mode.—Cut the steak into pieces about 3 inches square, and with it line the bottom of a pie-dish, seasoning it well with pepper and salt. Clean the pigeons, rub them with pepper and salt inside and out, and put into the body of each rather more than 1/2 oz. of butter; lay them on the steak, and a piece of ham on each pigeon. Add the yolks of 4 eggs, and half fill the dish with stock; place a border of puff paste round the edge of the dish, put on the cover, and ornament it in any way that may be preferred. Clean three of the feet, and place them in a hole made in the crust at the top: this shows what kind of pie it is. Glaze the crust,—that is to say, brush it over with the yolk of an egg,—and bake it in a well-heated oven for about 1-1/4 hour. When liked, a seasoning of pounded mace may be added.

Time.—1-1/4 hour, or rather less. Average cost, 5s. 3d.

Sufficient for 5 or 6 persons. Seasonable at any time.

RABBIT PIE.

981. INGREDIENTS.—1 rabbit, a few slices of ham, salt and white pepper to taste, 2 blades of pounded mace, 1/2 teaspoonful of grated nutmeg, a few forcemeat balls, 3 hard-boiled eggs, 1/2 pint of gravy, puff crust.

Mode.—Cut up the rabbit (which should be young), remove the breastbone, and bone the legs. Put the rabbit, slices of ham, forcemeat balls, and hard eggs, by turns, in layers, and season each layer with pepper, salt, pounded mace, and grated nutmeg. Pour in about 1/2 pint of water, cover with crust, and bake in a well-heated oven for about 1-1/2 hour. Should the crust acquire too much colour, place a piece of paper over it to prevent its burning. When done, pour in at the top, by means of the hole in the middle of the crust, a little good gravy, which may be made of the breast- and leg-bones of the rabbit and 2 or 3 shank-bones, flavoured with onion, herbs, and spices.

Time.—1-1/2 hour. Average cost, from 1s. to 1s. 6d. each.

Sufficient for 5 or 6 persons.

Seasonable from September to February.

Note.—The liver of the rabbit may be boiled, minced, and mixed with the forcemeat balls, when the flavour is liked.

RAISED PIE OF POULTRY OR GAME.

1340. INGREDIENTS.—To every lb. of flour allow 1/2 lb. of butter, 1/2 pint of water, the yolks of 2 eggs, 1/2 teaspoonful of salt (these are for the crust); 1 large fowl or pheasant, a few slices of veal cutlet, a few slices of dressed ham, forcemeat, seasoning of nutmeg, allspice, pepper and salt, gravy.

Mode.—Make a stiff short crust with the above proportion of butter, flour, water, and eggs, and work it up very smoothly; butter a raised-pie mould, as shown in No. 1190, and line it with the paste. Previously to making the crust, bone the fowl, or whatever bird is intended to be used, lay it, breast downwards, upon a cloth, and season the inside well with pounded mace, allspice, pepper, and salt; then spread over it a layer of forcemeat, then a layer of seasoned veal, and then one of ham, and then another layer of forcemeat, and roll the fowl over, making the skin meet at the back. Line the pie with forcemeat, put in the fowl, and fill up the cavities with slices of seasoned veal and ham and forcemeat; wet the edges of the pie, put on the cover, pinch the edges together with the paste-pincers, and decorate it with leaves; brush it over with beaten yolk of egg, and bake in a moderate oven for 4 hours. In the mean time, make a good strong gravy from the bones, pour it through a funnel into the hole at the top; cover this hole with a small leaf, and the pie, when cold, will be ready for use. Let it be remembered that the gravy must be considerably reduced before it is poured into the pie, as, when cold, it should form a firm jelly, and not be the least degree in a liquid state. This recipe is suitable for all kinds of poultry or game, using one or more birds, according to the size of the pie intended to be made; but the birds must always be boned. Truffles, mushrooms, &c., added to this pie, make it much nicer; and, to enrich it, lard the fleshy parts of the poultry or game with thin strips of bacon. This method of forming raised pies in a mould is generally called a timbale, and has the advantage of being more easily made than one where the paste is raised by the hands; the crust, besides, being eatable. (See coloured plate N 1.) Time.—Large pie, 4 hours. Average cost, 6s. 6d.

Seasonable, with poultry, all the year; with game, from September to March.

RAISED PIE OF VEAL AND HAM.

1341. INGREDIENTS.—3 or 4 lbs. of veal cutlets, a few slices of bacon or ham, seasoning of pepper, salt, nutmeg, and allspice, forcemeat No. 415, 2 lbs. of hot-water paste No. 1217, 1/2 pint of good strong gravy.

Mode.—To raise the crust for a pie with the hands is a very difficult task, and can only be accomplished by skilled and experienced cooks. The process should be seen to be satisfactorily learnt, and plenty of practice given to the making of raised pies, as by that means only will success be insured. Make a hot-water paste by recipe No. 1217, and from the mass raise the pie with the hands; if this cannot be accomplished, cut out pieces for the top and bottom, and a long piece for the sides; fasten the bottom and side-piece together by means of egg, and pinch the edges well together; then line the pie with forcemeat made by recipe No. 415, put in a layer of veal, and a plentiful seasoning of salt, pepper, nutmeg, and allspice, as, let it be remembered, these pies taste very insipid unless highly seasoned. Over the seasoning place a layer of sliced bacon or cooked ham, and then a layer of forcemeat, veal seasoning, and bacon, and so on until the meat rises to about an inch above the paste; taking care to finish with a layer of forcemeat, to fill all the cavities of the pie, and to lay in the meat firmly and compactly. Brush the top edge of the pie with beaten egg, put on the cover, press the edges, and pinch them round with paste-pincers. Make a hole in the middle of the lid, and ornament the pie with leaves, which should be stuck on with the white of an egg; then brush it all over with the beaten yolk of an egg, and bake the pie in an oven with a soaking heat from 3 to 4 hours. To ascertain when it is done, run a sharp-pointed knife or skewer through the hole at the top into the middle of the pie, and if the meat feels tender, it is sufficiently baked. Have ready about 1/2 pint of very strong gravy, pour it through a funnel into the hole at the top, stop up the hole with a small leaf of baked paste, and put the pie away until wanted for use. Should it acquire too much colour in the baking, cover it with white paper, as the crust should not in the least degree be burnt. Mushrooms, truffles, and many other ingredients, may be added to enrich the flavour of these pies, and the very fleshy parts of the meat may be larded. These pies are more frequently served cold than hot, and form excellent dishes for cold suppers or breakfasts. The cover of the pie is sometimes carefully removed, leaving the perfect edges, and the top decorated with square pieces of very bright aspic jelly: this has an exceedingly pretty effect.

Time.—About 4 hours. Average cost, 6s. 6d.

Sufficient for a very large pie. Seasonable from March to October.

MEAT OR SAUSAGE ROLLS.

1373. INGREDIENTS.—1 lb. of puff-paste No. 1206, sausage-meat No. 837, the yolk of 1 egg.

Mode.—Make 1 lb. of puff-paste by recipe No. 1206; roll it out to the thickness of about 1/2 inch, or rather less, and divide it into 8, 10, or 12 squares, according to the size the rolls are intended to be. Place some sausage-meat on one-half of each square, wet the edges of the paste, and fold it over the meat; slightly press the edges together, and trim them neatly with a knife. Brush the rolls over with the yolk of an egg, and bake them in a well-heated oven for about 1/2 hour, or longer should they be very large. The remains of cold chicken and ham, minced and seasoned, as also cold veal or beef, make very good rolls.

Time.—1/2 hour, or longer if the rolls are large.

Average cost, 1s. 6d.

Sufficient.—1 lb. of paste for 10 or 12 rolls.

Seasonable, with sausage-meat, from September to March or April.

VOL-AU-VENT (an Entree).

1379. INGREDIENTS.—3/4 to 1 lb. of puff-paste No. 1208, fricasseed chickens, rabbits, ragouts, or the remains of cold fish, flaked and warmed in thick white sauce.

Mode.—Make from 3/4 to 1 lb. of puff-paste, by recipe No. 1208, taking care that it is very evenly rolled out each time, to insure its rising properly; and if the paste is not extremely light, and put into a good hot oven, this cannot be accomplished, and the vol-au-vent will look very badly. Roll out the paste to the thickness of about 1-1/2 inch, and, with a fluted cutter, stamp it out to the desired shape, either round or oval, and, with the point of a small knife, make a slight incision in the paste all round the top, about an inch from the edge, which, when baked, forms the lid. Put the vol-au-vent into a good brisk oven, and keep the door shut for a few minutes after it is put in. Particular attention should he paid to the heating of the oven, for the paste cannot rise without a tolerable degree of heat When of a nice colour, without being scorched, withdraw it from the oven, instantly remove the cover where it was marked, and detach all the soft crumb from the centre: in doing this, be careful not to break the edges of the vol-au-vent; but should they look thin in places, stop them with small flakes of the inside paste, stuck on with the white of an egg. This precaution is necessary to prevent the fricassee or ragoût from bursting the case, and so spoiling the appearance of the dish. Fill the vol-au-vent with a rich mince, or fricassee, or ragoût, or the remains of cold fish flaked and warmed in a good white sauce, and do not make them very liquid, for fear of the gravy bursting the crust: replace the lid, and serve. To improve the appearance of the crust, brush it over with the yolk of an egg after it has risen properly.

Time.—3/4 hour to bake the vol-au-vent.

Average cost, exclusive of interior, 1s. 6d.

Seasonable at any time.

Note.—Small vol-au-vents may be made, and filled with minced veal, chicken, &c. They should be made of the same paste as the larger ones, and stamped out with a small fluted cutter.

FISH AND OYSTER PIE.

257. INGREDIENTS.—Any remains of cold fish, such as cod or haddock; 2 dozen oysters, pepper and salt to taste, bread crumbs sufficient for the quantity of fish; 1/2 teaspoonful of grated nutmeg, 1 teaspoonful of finely-chopped parsley.

Mode.—Clear the fish from the bones, and put a layer of it in a pie-dish, which sprinkle with pepper and salt; then a layer of bread crumbs, oysters, nutmeg, and chopped parsley. Repeat this till the dish is quite full. You may form a covering either of bread crumbs, which should be browned, or puff-paste, which should be cut into long strips, and laid in cross-bars over the fish, with a line of the paste first laid round the edge. Before putting on the top, pour in some made melted butter, or a little thin white sauce, and the oyster-liquor, and bake.

Time.—If made of cooked fish, 1/4 hour; if made of fresh fish and puff-paste, 3/4 hour.

Average cost, 1s. 6d.

Seasonable from September to April.

Note.—A nice little dish may be made by flaking any cold fish, adding a few oysters, seasoning with pepper and salt, and covering with mashed potatoes; 1/4 hour will bake it.

Victorian Pie Recipes from A Plain Cookery Book for the Working Classes BY CHARLES ELMÉ FRANCATELLI, [1852]

Meat Pie.

Of whatever kind, let the pieces of meat be first fried brown over a quick fire, in a little fat or butter, and seasoned with pepper and salt; put these into a pie-dish with chopped onions, a few slices of half-cooked potatoes, and enough water just to cover the meat. Cover the dish with a crust, made with two pounds of flour and six ounces of butter, or lard, or fat dripping, and just enough water to knead it into a stiff kind of dough or paste, and then bake it for about an hour and a-half.

Giblet Pie.

Giblets of fowls are always to be bought at a low price at most poulterers’; when you have a mind to lay out 6d. or 1s. in this way, first scald the necks and feet, to remove the feathers from the head and the rough skin from the feet; split the gizzard and scrape out the stones, etc., and the yellow skin therefrom, and when the giblets are thoroughly cleaned, put them into a saucepan with some thyme, winter savory, chopped onions, pepper and salt, and about a quart of water, and set them on the fire to stew very gently for an hour, by which time the liquor should be boiled down to half that quantity; then add two ounces of flour and a little mushroom ketchup; stir all together, and put the giblets into a pie-dish; cover this over with a dripping crust, and bake it for about an hour and a quarter.

A Fish Pie.

Cut up any kind of fish into pieces the size of an egg; season these with chopped parsley, thyme, a little onion, pepper and salt, and put them into a pie-dish, with a pint of water, well mixed with three ounces of flour and a little mushroom ketchup; cover the pie with a flour crust, or else with stiff mashed potatoes, and bake it for an hour and a quarter.

Potato Pie.

Slice up four onions and boil them in a saucepan with two ounces of butter, a quart of water, and pepper and salt, for five minutes; then add four pounds of potatoes, peeled and cut in slices; stew the whole until the potatoes are done, and pour them into a pie-dish; cover this with stiff mashed potatoes, and bake the pie of a light brown colour.

The Lady’s Own Cookery Book, And New Dinner-Table Directory; In which will be found A LARGE COLLECTION OF ORIGINAL RECEIPTS, Including not only THE RESULT OF THE AUTHERESS’S MANY YEARS OBSERVATION, EXPERIENCE, AND RESEARCH, but also the CONTRIBUTIONS OF AN EXTENSIVE CIRCLE OF ACQUAINTANCE: Adapted to the use of PERSONS LIVING IN THE HIGHEST STYLE, as well as those of MODERATE FORTUNE. [1844]

Mackarel Pie.

Cut the fish into four pieces; season them to your taste with pepper, salt, and a little mace, mixed with a quarter of a pound of beef suet, chopped fine. Put at the bottom and top, and between the layers of fish, a good deal of young parsley, and instead of water a little new milk in the dish for gravy. If you like it rich, warm about a quarter of a pint of cream, which pour in the pie when baked; if not, have boiled a little gravy with the heads. It will take the same time to bake as a veal pie.

Oyster Pie.

Beard the oysters; scald and strain them from their liquor, and season the liquor with pepper, salt, and anchovy, a lump of butter, and bread crumbs. Boil up to melt the anchovies; then just heat your oysters in it; put them all together into your pie-dish, and cover them with a puff-paste.

If you put your oysters into a fresh pie, you must cover them at the top with crisped crumbs of bread; add more to the savouring if you like it.

Maccaroni in a mould of Pie Crust.

Prepare a paste, as generally made for apple-pies, of an oval shape; put a stout bottom to it and no top; let it bake by the fire till served. Prepare a quarter of a pound of maccaroni, boil it with a little salt and half an ounce of butter; when done, put it in another stewpan with an ounce more of butter, a little grated cheese, and a spoonful of cream. Drain the maccaroni, and toss it till the cheese be well mixed; pour it into a dish; sprinkle some more grated cheese over it, and baste it with a little butter. When ready to be served, put the maccaroni into the paste, and dish it up hot without browning the cheese.

Beef Steak Pie.

Rump steaks are preferable to beef; season them with the usual seasoning, puff-paste top and bottom, and good gravy to fill the dish.

Calf’s Head Pie.

Parboil the head; cut it into thin slices; season with pepper and salt; lay them into a crust with some good gravy, forcemeat balls, and yolks of eggs boiled hard. Bake it about an hour and a half; cut off the lid; thicken some good gravy with a little flour; add some oysters; serve it with or without a lid.

Mutton or Grass Lamb Pie.

Take a loin of mutton or lamb, and clear it from fat and skin; cut it into steaks; season them well with pepper and salt; almost fill the dish with water; lay puff paste at top and bottom.

Veal Pie (common).

Make exactly as you would a beef-steak pie. [scroll up for beaf-steak pie recipe]

Veal Pie (rich).

Take a neck, a fillet, or a breast of veal, cut from it your steaks, seasoned with pepper, salt, nutmeg, and a few cloves, truffles, and morels; then slice two sweetbreads; season them in the same manner, and put a layer of paste round the dish; then lay the meat, yolks of eggs boiled hard, and oysters at the top: fill it with water. When taken out of the oven, pour in at the top through a funnel some good boiled gravy, thickened with cream and flour boiled up.

Veal and Ham Pie.

Take two pounds of veal cutlets, or the best end of the neck, cut them in pieces about half the size of your hand, seasoned with pepper and a very little salt, and some dressed ham in slices. Lay them alternately in the dish with forcemeat or sausage meat, the yolks of three eggs boiled hard, and a gill of water.

Veal Olive Pie.

Make your olives as directed in the receipt for making olives; put them into a crust; fill the pie with water: when baked, pour in some good gravy, boiled and thickened with a little good cream and flour boiled together. These ingredients make an excellent pie.

Beef Olive Pie.

Make your olives as you would common beef olives; put them into puff paste, top and bottom; fill the pie with water, when baked, pour in some good rich gravy.

Partridge Pie.

Bone your partridges, and stuff them with forcemeat, made of breast of chicken and veal, ham and beef-suet, all chopped very fine, but not pounded in a mortar, which would spoil it. Season with mace, pepper, salt, a very little shalot, and lemon-peel. Put the whole into a stewpan; keep it stirred; add three eggs; have a raised crust, and lay thin slices of good fat bacon at the bottom and all round.

Chicken Pie.

Parboil and neatly cut up your chickens; dry them, and set them over a slow fire for a few minutes; have ready some forcemeat, and with it some pieces of ham; lay these at the bottom of the dish, and place the chickens upon it; add some gravy well seasoned. It takes from an hour and a half to two hours.

Giblet Pie.

Let the giblets be well cleaned, and put all into a saucepan excepting the liver, with a little water and an onion, some whole pepper, a bunch of sweet-herbs, and a little salt. Cover them close, and let them stew till tender; then lay in your dish a puff paste, and upon that a rump-steak peppered and salted; put the seasoned giblets in with the liver, and add the liquor they were stewed in. Close the pie; bake it two hours; and when done pour in the gravy.

A Dutch pie is made in the same way.

Common Goose Pie.

Quarter a goose and season it well. Make a raised crust, and lay it in, with half a pound of butter at the top, cut into three pieces. Put the lid on, and bake it gently.

Rich Goose Pie.

After having boned your goose and fowl, season them well, and put your fowl into the goose, and into the fowl some forcemeat. Then put both into a raised crust, filling the corners with the forcemeat. Cut about half a pound of butter into three or four pieces, and lay on the top, and bake it well.

Ham and Chicken Pie.

Cut some thin slices from a boiled ham, lay them on a good puff paste at the bottom of your dish, and pepper them. Cut a fowl into four quarters, and season it with a great deal of pepper, and but a little salt; and lay on the top some hard yolks of eggs, a few truffles and morels, and then cover the whole with slices of ham peppered: fill the dish with gravy, and cover it with a good thick paste. Bake it well, and, when done, pour into it some rich gravy. If to be eaten cold, put no gravy.

Hare Pie.

Cut the hare into pieces; season it with salt, pepper, and nutmeg, and jug it with half a pound of butter. It must do above an hour, covered close in a pot of boiling water. Make some forcemeat, and add bruised liver and a glass of red wine. Let it be highly seasoned, and lay it round the inside of a raised crust; put the hare in when cool, and add the gravy that came from it, with some more rich gravy. Put the lid on, and bake it two hours.

Lumber Pie.

Take the best neat’s tongue well boiled, three quarters of a pound of beef suet, the like quantity of currants, two good handfuls of spinach, thyme, and parsley, a little nutmeg, and mace; sweeten to your taste. Add a French roll grated and six eggs. Mix these all together, put them into your pie, then lay up the top. Cut into long slices one candied orange, two pieces of citron, some sliced lemon, add a good deal of marrow, preserved cherries and barberries, an apple or two cut into eight pieces, and some butter. Put in white wine, lemon, and sugar, and serve up.

Olive Pie.

Two pounds of leg of veal, the lean, with the skin taken out, one pound of beef suet, both shred very small and beaten; then put them together; add half a pound of currants and half a pound of raisins stoned, half a pound of sugar, eight eggs and the whites of four, thyme, sweet marjoram, winter savory, and parsley, a handful of each. Mix all these together, and make it up in balls. When you put them in the pie, put butter between the top and bottom. Take as much suet as meat; when it is baked, put in a little white wine.

Partridge Pie.

Truss the partridges the same way as you do a fowl for boiling; then beat in a mortar some shalots, parsley cut small, the livers of the birds, and double the quantity of bacon, seasoning them with pepper, salt, and two blades of mace. When well pounded, put in some fresh mushrooms. Raise a crust for the pie; cover the bottom with the seasoning; put in the partridges, but no stuffing, and put in the remainder of the seasoning between the birds and on the sides; strew over a little mace, pepper and salt, shalots, fresh mushrooms, a little bacon beaten very fine; lay a layer of it over them, and put the lid on. Two hours and a half will bake it, and, when done, take the lid off, skim off the fat, put a pint of veal gravy, and squeeze in the juice of an orange.

Rich Pigeon Pie.

Season the pigeons high; lay a puff paste at the bottom of the dish, stuffing the craws of the birds with forcemeat, and lay them in the dish with the breasts downward; fill all the spaces with forcemeat, hard-boiled yolks of eggs, artichoke bottoms cut in pieces, and asparagus tops. Cover, and bake it; when drawn, pour in rich gravy.

High Veal Pie.

Veal, forcemeat balls, yolks of eggs, oysters, a little nutmeg, cayenne pepper, and salt, with a little water put into the dish.

Vegetable Pie.

Stew three pounds of gravy beef, with some white pepper, salt, and mace, a bundle of sweet-herbs, a few sweet almonds, onions, and carrots, till the gravy is of a good brown colour. Strain it off; let it stand till cold; and take off all the fat. Have some carrots, turnips, onions, potatoes, and celery, ready cut; boil all these together. Boil some greens by themselves, and add them to the pie when served up.

A Yorkshire Christmas Pie.

Let the crust be made a good standing one; the wall and bottom must be very thick. Take a turkey and bone it, a goose, a fowl, a partridge, and a pigeon, and season all well. Take half an ounce of cloves, the same of black pepper, and two table-spoonfuls of salt, and beat them well together; let the fowls be slit down the back, and bone them; put the pigeon into the partridge, the partridge into the fowl, the fowl into the goose, and the goose into the turkey. Season all well first, and lay them in the crust; joint a hare, and cut it into pieces; season it, and lay it close on one side; on the other side woodcocks, or any other sort of game; let them also be well seasoned and laid close. Put four or five pounds of butter into the pie; cover it with a very rich paste, put it in a very hot oven, and four hours will bake it.

A bushel of flour is about the quantity required for the paste.

Venison Pasty.

Bone a neck and breast of venison, and season them well with salt and pepper; put them into a pan, with part of a neck of mutton sliced and laid over them, and a glass of red wine. Cover the whole with a coarse paste, and bake it an hour or two; but finish baking in a puff paste, adding a little more seasoning and the gravy from the meat. Let the crust be half an inch thick at the bottom, and the top crust thicker. If the pasty is to be eaten hot, pour a rich gravy into it when it comes from the oven; but, if cold, there is no occasion for that. The breast and shoulder make a very good pasty. It may be done in raised crust. A middle-sized pasty will take three hours’ baking.

Vol-au-Vent.

Take a sufficient quantity of puff-paste, cut it to the shape of the dish, and make it as for an apple pie, only without a top. When baked, put it on a sheet of writing paper, near the fire, to drain the butter, till dinner time. Then take two fowls, which have been previously boiled; cut them up as for a fricassee, but leave out the back. Prepare a sauce, the white sauce as directed for boiled fowls. Wash a table-spoonful of mushrooms in three or four cold waters; cut them in half, and add them also; then thoroughly heat up the sauce, and have the chicken also ready heated in a little boiling water, in which put a little soup jelly. Strain the liquor from the chicken; pour a little of the sauce in the bottom of the paste, then lay the wings, &c. in the paste; pour the rest of the sauce over them, and serve it up hot. The paste should be well filled to the top, and if there is not sauce enough more must be added.

The Art of Cookery Made Easy and Refined By John Mollard, Cook, [1802]

Vegetable Pie.

Cut celery heads two inches long, turnips and carrots into shapes, some peeled button onions or two Spanish onions, artichoke bottoms cut into quarters, pieces of cauliflowers or heads of broccoli, and heads of large asparagus.

Let all the vegetables be washed clean; then boil each separately in a sufficient quantity of water to cover them, and as they get tender strain the liquor into one stewpan and put the vegetables into another.

Then add to their essences half a pint of strong consumé, thicken it with flour and water, season to the palate with cayenne pepper, salt, and lemon juice; add also a little colour.

Let it boil ten minutes and strain it to the vegetables; then simmer them together, and serve them up in a raised pie crust, or in a deep dish with a raised crust baked round it, of two inches high.

Fishmeagre Pie.

Bone and cut into pieces a male carp; make it into a forcemeat with some of the roe, parsley, thyme, eschallots chopped very fine, a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, pepper, salt, a little beaten spice, half a pint of cream, four eggs, and crumb of french bread. Afterwards take pieces of eel, salmon, and skate, pass them with sweet herbs, pepper, salt, lemon juice, and a bit of butter.

When they are cold, put some of the forcemeat at the bottom of a deep dish, and mix with the fish some stewed mushrooms, button onions, truffles and morells blanched, and the roe cut into pieces, and put them into the dish with more forcemeat round the top; then cover with puff paste, ornament with leaves of paste, egg it, and bake it. When it is to be served up cut a small hole in the center of the top, and add a good cullis.

Raised Chicken Pie.

Cut chicken into pieces, and put them into a stewpan, either blanched or not, with a bit of fresh butter, lemon juice, pepper and salt, parsley, thyme, eschallots chopped very fine, and a little pounded mace. When the chicken are half done put them on a dish, and when cold raise the crust, put light forcemeat at the bottom, the chicken upon it, and more forcemeat round the top. Cover, bake gently, and when served up, cut off the lid, and add a ragout of sweetbreads, cocks combs, &c. &c.

N. B. Rabbits and veal may be done in the same manner; as also pigeons, but they are to be put into the crust whole.

Raised Ham Pie, with Directions for making a raised Crust.

Take water boiling hot, put a piece of fresh butter into it, and mix it with flour into a paste, and as it gets cold knead it several times, taking care it is of a good consistence but not too stiff, and then raise it into any shape you please. Have ready part of a ham boiled till half done, trim it to the shape of the crust, which must be big enough to put some light forcemeat at the bottom and round the ham when in the pie.

Cover it with the same kind of paste, pinch round the top, and egg and ornament it. Just before it is set in the oven add half a pint of madeira wine, bake it gently for four hours, and when it is to be served up add some good cullis, but be careful it is not too salt.

Flat Chicken Pie (or Tourte).

Cut chicken into pieces, blanch them, and season with pepper and salt; then put a light forcemeat at the bottom of a deep dish, and upon it some of the chicken, some slices of throat sweetbreads seasoned, some stewed mushrooms, truffles and morells, and upon them the remainder of the chicken.

Cover it with a puff paste, then egg and ornament the top with leaves of paste of the same kind, bake it of a nice colour, and when it is to be served up put into it a good cullis.

N. B. The chicken may be passed with sweet herbs, &c. and when cold put into the dish as above. Rabbits also may be done in the same manner.

Pigeon Pie.

Wash the pigeons in cold water and wipe them dry; then put into a deep dish a rump steak cut into pieces, beat with a chopper, and seasoned with pepper and salt, and upon it the pigeons with the liver, &c. seasoned. Add also some yolk of hard eggs, cover it with puff paste, egg and ornament it with small leaves, bake it, and add some cullis.

Raised Turkey Pie with a Tongue.

Bone a turkey, and have ready a boiled pickled tongue; pare the principal part, put it into the center of the turkey with some light forcemeat well-seasoned, and some slices of throat sweetbreads. Sew it up, and put it into boiling water for ten minutes. Then make a crust with raised paste big enough to receive the turkey, which, when cold, put in with bards of fat bacon upon it and forcemeat at the bottom of the crust; then cover and ornament it as a raised chicken pie, and bake it. When it is to be served up, take off the lid and the bards of bacon, glaize the breast lightly, and add a cullis or green truffle sauce.

N. B. Pullets, chickens, partridges, and pheasants, may be done in the same manner; but instead of the tongue put in whole green truffles pared, and some truffles pounded with the forcemeat, and when served up, add a good cullis. Or, instead of a raised crust, they may be put in a dish and covered with puff paste, &c.

Raised Macaroni Pie.

Raise a crust and ornament and bake it, and when it is to be served up have ready some hot macaroni stewed and a white fricassee of chicken in separate stewpans. Put them alternately into the pie, strew a little grated parmezan cheese over it, put a slip of paper round the edge of the pie to prevent from burning, and colour the cheese with a salamander.

Raised Beef Steak Pie.

Take prime steaks of a rump of beef, cut the skin from the fat, beat the steaks with a chopper, cut them into middling-sized pieces, then pass them with a bit of fresh butter, pepper, salt, lemon juice, and eschallots chopped, and when they are half done put them into a dish till cold. Blanch oysters, strain them, and preserve the liquor; then raise a crust, put a layer of steak at the bottom, some oysters upon it, and so alternately; cover the pie, ornament and bake it. When it is to be served up put into it a good cullis, with the oyster liquor and some ketchup mixed with it.

N. B. In the same manner put steaks and oysters into a deep dish, and cover them with puff paste.

Veal Pie.

Cut the best end of a loin of veal into thin chops, take off part of the bone and some of the fat from the kidney, season with pepper and salt, put them into a deep dish with yolks of boiled eggs, cover with puff paste, egg and ornament with leaves, bake it, and when it is to be served up, put into it some good consumé.

Pork Pie.

Take a piece of loin of pork with the rind and part of the under bone cut off; then cut into chops, season them with pepper and salt, cover them with puff paste, bake the pie, and when it is to be served up put into it cullis, with the essence of two onions and a little mustard mixed with it.

N. B. I have directed puff paste to be used for meat pies, it having the best appearance when baked; but there is another mode which may be thought preferable; and which is, to mix together half a pound of sifted flour, six ounces of fresh butter, the yolks and whites of two eggs well beaten, and a little milk and salt; then knead it well.

Eel Pie.

Skin and clean the eels, cut them into pieces of two inches long, pass them with chopped parsley and eschallots, a little grated nutmeg, pepper, salt, and lemon juice, for five minutes; then put a little light forcemeat at the bottom of a deep dish, put the eels over it, cover with puff paste, bake it, and put into it some benshamelle or cullis.

Mutton Pie.

Take off the bone from part of a loin of mutton, cut it into chops, and season with pepper and salt. Then put into a deep dish a layer of chops, and upon them some slices of peeled potatoes (and if approved, some thin slices of onions); put the remaining chops over, cover with puff paste, bake it, and add some cullis. Or, the chops may be passed with sweet herbs, &c. and when cold put into small or large raised crusts with the above vegetables, and when baked add some cullis.

Sea Pie.

Take small pieces of salt beef and pickle pork, veal and mutton chops, a goose or a duck cut into pieces, onions and potatoes cut into thick slices, and season with a little salt and plenty of pepper. Make a paste with beef suet chopped fine, some flour and water; knead them well together, then roll out the paste, sheet a large bowl with it, put into it the above ingredients alternately; cover it with the paste, put a cloth over, and boil four hours. When it is to be served up take off the cloth, make a little hole in the top, and add a good consumé.

Georgian Pie & Pastry Recipes from English Housewifry by Elizabeth Moxon [1764]

To make a SHELL PASTE.

Take half a pound of fine flour, and a quarter of a pound of butter, the yolks of two eggs and one white, two ounces of sugar finely sifted, mix all these together with a little water, and roll it very thin whilst you can see through it; when you lid your tarts prick them to keep them from blistering; make sure to roll them even, and when you bake them ice them.

To make a LIGHT PASTE for a VENISON PASTY, or other PIE.

Take a quarter of a peck of fine flour, or as much as you think you have occasion for, and to every quartern of flour put a pound and a quarter of butter, break the third part of your butter into the flour; then take the whites of three or four eggs, beat them very well to a froth, and put to them as much water as will knead the meal; do not knead it over stiff, so then roll it in the rest of your butter; you must roll it five or six times over at least, and strinkle a little flour over your butter every time you roll it up, lap it up the cross way, and it will be fit for use.

To make a Paste for a STANDING PIE.

Take a quartern of flour or more if you have occasion, and to every quartern of flour put a pound of butter, and a little salt, knead it with boiling water, then work it very well, and let it lie whilst it is cold.

This paste is good enough for a goose pie, or any other standing-pie.

A light Paste for a DISH PIE.

Take a quartern of flour, and break into it a pound of butter in large pieces, knead it very stiff, handle it as lightly as you can, and roll it once or twice, then it is fit for use.

To make an EEL PIE.

Case and clean the eels, season them with a little nutmeg, pepper and salt, cut them in long pieces; you must make your pie with hot butter paste, let it be oval with a thin crust; lay in your eels length way, putting over them a little fresh butter; so bake them.

Eel pies are good, and eat very well with currants, but if you put in currants you must not use any black pepper, but a little Jamaica pepper.

To make a TURBOT-HEAD PIE.

Take a middling turbot-head, pretty well cut off, wash it clean, take out the gills, season it pretty well with mace, pepper and salt, so put it into a deep dish with half a pound of butter, cover it with a light puff-paste, but lay none in the bottom; when it is baked take out the liquor and the butter that it was baked in, put it into a sauce-pan with a lump of fresh butter and flour to thicken it, with an anchovy and a glass of white wine, so pour it into your pie again over the fish; you may lie round half a dozen yolks of eggs at an equal distance; when you have cut off the lid, lie it in sippets round your disk, and serve it up.

To make a Caudle for a sweet VEAL PIE.

Take about a jill of white wine and verjuice mixed, make it very hot, beat the yolk of an egg very well, and then mix them together as you would do mull’d ale; you must sweeten it very well, because there is no sugar in the pie.

This caudle will do for any other sort of pie that is sweet.

To make SWEET-MEAT TARTS.

Make a little shell-paste, roll it, and line your tins, prick them in the inside, and so bake them; when you serve ’em up put in any sort of sweet-meats, what you please.

You may have a different sort every day, do but keep your shells bak’d by you.

Stuart Era Savoury Pie Recipes from The Accomplisht Cook, or The Art & Mystery of Cookery [1685]

Marrow Pies.

For the garnish of the dish, make marrow pies made like round Chewets but not so high altogether, then have sweet-breads of veal cut like small dice, some pistaches, and Marrow, some Potato’s, or Artichocks cut like Sweetbreads: as also some enterlarded Bacon; Yolks of hard Eggs, Nutmeg, Salt, Goosberries, Grapes, or Barberries, and some minced Veal in the bottom of the Pie minced with some Bacon or Beef-suit, Sparagus and Chesnuts, with a little musk; close them up, and bast them with saffron water, bake them, and liquor it with beaten butter, and set them about the dish side or brims, with some bottoms of Artichocks, and yolks of hard Eggs, Lemons in quarters, Poungarnets and red Beets boil’d, and carved.

Other Marrow Pies. [1]

Otherways for variety, you may make other Marrow Pies of minced Veal and Beef-suit, seasoned with Pepper, Salt, Nutmegs and boiled Sparagus, cut half an inch long, yolks of hard Eggs cut in quarters, and mingled with the meat and marrow: fill your Pies, bake them not too hard, musk them, &c.

Other Marrow Pies. [2]

Otherways, Marrow Pies of bottoms of little Artichocks, Suckers, yolks of hard eggs, Chesnuts, Marrow, and interlarded Bacon cut like dice, some Veal sweet-breads 4cut also, or Lamb-stones, Potato’s, or Skirrets, and Sparagus, or none; season them lightly with Nutmeg, Pepper and Salt, close your Pies, and bake them.

Olio, Marrow Pies.

Butter three pound, Flower one quart, Lamb-Stones three pair, Sweet-Breads six, Marrow-bones eight, large Mace, Cock-stones twenty, interlarded Bacon one pound, knots of Eggs twelve, Artichocks twelve, Sparagus one hundred, Cocks-Combs twenty, Pistaches one pound, Nutmegs, Pepper, and Salt.

Season the aforesaid lightly, and lay them in the Pie upon some minced veal or mutton, your interlarded Bacon in thin slices of half an inch long, mingled among the rest, fill the Pie, and put in some Grapes, and slic’t Lemon, Barberries or Goosberries.

1. Pies of Marrow.

Flower, Sweet bread, Marrow, Artichocks, Pistaches, Nutmegs, Eggs, Bacon, Veal, Suit, Sparagus, Chesnuts; Musk, Saffron, Butter.

2. Marrow Pies.

Flower, Butter, Veal, Suet, Pepper, Salt, Nutmeg, Sparagus, Eggs, Grapes, Marrow, Saffron.

3. Marrow Pies.

Flower, Butter, Eggs, Artichocks, Sweet-bread, Lamb-stones, Potato’s, Nutmegs, Pepper, Salt, Skirrets, Grapes, Bacon.

To make a Lumber-Pie.

Take some grated bread, and beef-suet cut into bits like great dice, and some cloves and mace, then some veal or capon minced small with beef-suet, sweet herbs, salt, sugar, the yolks of six eggs boil’d hard and cut in quarters, put them to the other ingredients, with some barberries, some yolks of raw eggs, and a little cream, work up all together and put it in the cauls of veal like little sausages; then bake them in a dish, and being half baked, have a pie made and dried in the oven; put these puddings into it with some butter, verjuyce, sugar, some dates on them, large mace, grapes, or barberries, and marrow; being baked, serve it with a cut cover on it, and scrape sugar on it.

Otherways.

Take some minc’t meat of chewits of veal, and put to it some three or four raw eggs, make it into balls, then put them in a pye fitted for them according to this form, first lay in the balls, then lay on them some slic’t dates, large mace, marrow, and butter; close it up and bake it, being baked, liquor it with verjuyce, sugar, and butter, then ice it, and serve it up.

To make an Olive Pye.

Take tyme, sweet marjorarm, savory, spinage, parsley, sage, endive, sorrel, violet leaves, and strawberry leaves, mince them very small with some yolks of hard eggs, then put to them half a pound of currants, nutmeg, pepper, cinamon, sugar, and salt, minced raisins, gooseberries, or barberries, and dates minc’d small, mingle alltogether, then have slices of a leg of veal, or a leg or mutton, cut thin and hacked with the back of a knife, lay them on a clean board and strow on the foresaid materials, roul them up and put them in a pye; then lay on them some dates, marrow, large mace, and some butter, close it up and bake it, being baked cut it up, liquor it with butter, verjuyce, and sugar, put a slic’t lemon into it, and serve it up with scraped sugar.

To make a Steak Pye the best way.

Cut a neck, loyn, or breast into steaks, and season them with pepper, nutmeg, and salt; then have some few sweet herbs minced small with an onion, and the yolks of three or four hard eggs minced also; the pye being made, put in the meat and a few capers, and strow these ingredients on it, then put in butter, close it up and bake it three hours moderately, &c. Make the pye round and pretty deep.

Otherways.

The meat being prepared as before, season it with nutmeg, ginger, pepper, a whole onion, and salt; fill the pye, then put in some large mace, half a pound of currans, and butter, close it up and put it in the oven; being half baked put in a pint of warmed clearet, and when you draw it to send it up, cut the lid in pieces, and stick it in the meat round the pye; or you may leave out onions, and put in sugar and verjuyce.

Otherways.

pot
square pot

Take a loyn of mutton, cut it in steaks, and season it with nutmeg, pepper, and salt, then lay a layer of raisins and prunes in the bottom of the pye, steaks on them, and then whole cinamon, then more fruit and steaks, thus do it three times, and on the top put more fruit, and grapes, or slic’t orange, dates, large mace, and butter, close it up and bake it, being baked, liquor it with butter, white wine and sugar, ice it, and serve it hot.

To bake Steak Pies the French way.

Season the steaks with pepper, nutmeg, and salt lightly, and set them by; then take a piece of the leanest of a leg of mutton, and mince it small with some beef suet and a few sweet herbs, as tops of tyme, penniroyal, young red sage, grated bread, yolks of eggs, sweet cream, raisins of the sun, &c. work all together, and make it into little balls, and rouls, put them into a deep round pye on the steaks, then put to them some butter, and sprinkle it with verjuyce, close it up and bake it, being baked cut it up, then roul sage leaves in butter, fry them, and stick them in the balls, serve the pye without a cover, and liquor it with the juyce of two or three oranges or lemons.

Otherways.

Bake these steaks in any of the foresaid-ways in patty-pan or dish, and make other paste called cold butter paste; take to a gallon of flower a pound and a half of butter, four or five eggs and but two whites, work up the butter and eggs into the flour, and being well wrought, put to it a little fair cold water, and make it up a stiff paste.

To make Umble-Pies.

Lay minced beef-suet in the bottom of the pie, or slices of interlarded bacon, and the umbles cut as big as small dice, with some bacon cut in the same form, and seasoned with nutmeg, pepper, and salt, fill your pyes with it, and slices of bacon and butter, close it up and bake it, and liquor it with claret, butter, and stripped tyme.

To make Pies of Sweet-breads or Lamb stones.

Parboil them and blanch them, or raw sweetbreads or stones, part them in halves, & season them with pepper, nutmeg, and salt, season them lightly; then put in the bottom of the pie some slices of interlarded bacon, & some pieces of artichocks or mushrooms, then sweet-breads or stones, marrow, gooseberries, barberries, grapes, or slic’t lemon, close it up and bake it, being baked liquor it with butter only. Or otherwise with butter, white-wine, and sugar, and sometimes add some yolks of eggs.

To make minced Pies or Chewits of a Leg of Veal, Neats-Tongue, Turkey, or Capon.

Take to a good leg of veal six pound of beef-suet, then take the leg of veal, bone it, parboil it, and mince it very fine when it is hot; mince the suet by it self very fine also, then when they are cold mingle them together, then season the meat with a pound of sliced dates, a pound of sugar, an ounce of nutmegs, an ounce of pepper, an ounce of cinamon, half an ounce of ginger, half a pint of verjuyce, a pint of rose-water, a preserved orange, or any peel fine minced, an ounce of caraway-comfits, and six pound of currans; put all these into a large tray with half a handful of salt, stir them up all together, and fill your pies, close them up, bake them, and being baked, ice them with double refined sugar, rose-water, and butter.

Make the paste with a peck of flour, and two pound of butter boil’d in fair water or liquor, make it up boiling hot.

To make minced Pies of Mutton.

Take to a leg of mutton four pound of beef-suet, bone the leg and cut it raw into small pieces, as also the suet, mince them together very fine, and being minc’t season it with two pound of currans, two pound of raisins, two pound of prunes, an ounce of caraway seed, an ounce of nutmegs, an ounce of pepper, an ounce of cloves, and mace, and six ounces of salt; stir up all together, fill the pies, and bake them as the former.

To make minced Pies of Beef.

Take a stone or eight pound of beef, also eight pound of suet, mince them very small, and put to them eight ounces of salt, two ounces of nutmegs, an ounce of pepper, an ounce of cloves and mace, four pound of currants, and four pound of raisins, stir up all these together, and fill your pies.

Minced Pies in the Italian Fashion.

Parboil a leg of veal, and being cold mince it with beef-suet, and season it with pepper, salt, and gooseberries; mix with it a little verjuyce, currants, sugar, and a little saffron in powder.

Forms of minced Pyes.

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To make an extraordinary Pie, or a Bride Pye of several Compounds, being several distinct Pies on one bottom.

pie decoration

Provide cock-stones and combs, or lamb-stones, and sweet-breads of veal, a little set in hot water and cut to pieces; also two or three ox-pallats blanch’t and slic’t, a pint of oysters, slic’t dates, a handful of pine kernels, a little quantity of broom buds, pickled, some fine interlarded bacon slic’t; nine or ten chesnuts rosted and blancht season them with salt, nutmeg, and some large mace, and close it up with some butter. For the caudle, beat up some butter, with three yolks of eggs, some white or claret 235wine, the juyce of a lemon or two; cut up the lid, and pour on the lear, shaking it well together; then lay on the meat, slic’t lemon, and pickled barberries, and cover it again, let these ingredients be put in the moddle or scollops of the Pye.

Several other Pies belong to the first form, but you must be sure to make the three fashions proportionably answering one the other; you may set them on one bottom of paste, which will be more convenient; or if you set them several you may bake the middle one full of flour, it being bak’t and cold, take out the flour in the bottom, & put in live birds, or a snake, which will seem strange to the beholders, which cut up the pie at the Table. This is only for a Wedding to pass away the time.

Now for the other pies you may fill them with several ingredients, as in one you may put oysters, being parboild and bearded, season them with large mace, pepper, some beaten ginger, and salt, season them lightly and fill the Pie, then lay on marrow & some good butter, close it up and bake it. Then make a lear for it with white wine, the oyster liquor, three or four oysters bruised in pieces to make it stronger, but take out the pieces, and an onion, or rub the bottom of the dish with a clove of garlick; it being boil’d, put in a piece of butter, with a lemon, sweet herbs will be good boil’d in it, bound up fast together, cut up the lid, or make a hole to let the lear in, &c.

Another you may make of prawns and cockles, being seasoned as the first, but no marrow: a few pickled mushrooms, (if you have them) it being baked, beat up a piece of butter, a little vinegar, a slic’t nutmeg, and the juyce of two or three oranges thick, and pour it into the Pye.

A third you may make a Bird pie; take young Birds, as larks pull’d and drawn, and a forced meat to put in the bellies made of grated bread, sweet herbs minced very small, beef-suet, or marrow minced, almonds beat with a little cream to keep them from oyling, a little parmisan (or none) or old cheese; season this meat with nutmeg, ginger, and salt, then mix them together, with cream and eggs like a pudding, stuff the larks with it, then season the larks with nutmeg, pepper, and salt, and lay them in the pie, put in some butter, and scatter between them pine-kernels, yolks of eggs and sweet herbs, the herbs and eggs being minced very small; being baked make a lear with the juyce of oranges and butter beat up thick, and shaken well together.

For another of the Pies, you may boil artichocks, and take only the bottoms for the Pie, cut them into quarters or less, and season them with nutmeg. Thus with several ingredients you may fill your other Pies.

For the outmost Pies they must be Egg-Pies.

Boil twenty eggs and mince them very small, being blanched, with twice the weight of them of beef-suet fine minced also; then have half a pound of dates slic’t with a pound of raisins, and a pound of currans well washed and dryed, and half an ounce of cinamon fine beaten, and a little cloves and mace fine beaten, sugar a quarter of a pound, a little salt, a quarter of a pint of rose-water, and as much verjuyce, and stir and mingle all well together, and fill the pies, and close them, and bake them, they will not be above two hours a baking, and serve them all seventeen upon one dish, or plate, and ice them, or scrape sugar on them; every one of these Pies should have a tuft of paste jagged on the top.

To make a Tart of Green Pease.

Take green pease and boil them tender, then pour them out into a cullender, season them with saffron, salt, and put sugar to them and some sweet butter, then close it up and bake it almost an hour, then draw it forth of the oven and ice it, put in a little verjuyce, and shake them well together, then scrape on sugar, and serve it in.

The Queen-like Closet or Rich Cabinet by Hannah Woolley Stored with all manner of RARE RECEIPTS For Preserving, Candying and Cookery. Very Pleasant and Beneficial to all Ingenious Persons of the FEMALE SEX. [1670] 2nd Edition

To make good Paste.

Take to a peck of fine flower three pound of butter, and three Eggs, and a little cold Cream, and work it well together, but do not break your Butter too small, and it will be very fine Crust, either to bake meat in, or fruit, or what else you please.

It is also a very fine Dumplin, if you make it into good big Rolls, and
boil them and butter them, or roul some of it out thin, and put a great
Apple therein, and boil and butter them, with Rosewater, Butter and
Sugar.

To make good Paste to raise.

Take to a Peck of Flower two pounds of Butter and a little tried Suet, let them boil with a little Water or Milk, then put two Eggs into your Flower, and mix them well together, then make a hole in the middle of your Flower, and put in the top of your boiling Liquor, and so much of the rest as will make it in to a stiff Paste, then lay it into a warm Cloth to rise.em, when they are cold they will cut smooth like Marmalade.

To make Puff-Paste.

Take a quart of the finest Flower, the Whites of three Eggs, and the Yolks of two, and a little cold water, make it into a perfect Paste, then roul it abroad thin, then lay on little bits of Butter, and fold it over again, then drive it abroad again, and lay on more Butter, and then fold it over, and so do ten times, make it up for your use, and put your Fruit or Meat therein and bake it.

Another way for Puff-Paste.

Take fine Flower half a Peck, the Yolks of five Eggs and one White, one Pound of Butter, half a pint of Cream, and a little fair water, break your Butter in little Bits and do not mould it too much, but roul it abroad so soon as you can, and let the Butter be seen in spots, for that will make it hollow when it comes into the Oven, then put in your Meat or Fruit, and close it over, and wash it over with the Yolk of an Egg and Cream beaten together, just when you set it into the Oven; let your Oven be quick, but do not let it stand too long, for that will spoil it.

To make short Paste without Butter.

Bake your Flower first, then take a quart of it, and the Yolks of three Eggs and a Pint of Cream, two Ounces of fine Sugar, and a little Salt, and so make it into Paste.

Paste for cold Baked meats.

Take to every Peck of Flower one pound of Butter or a little more, with hot Liquor as the other, and put a little dissolved Isinglass in it, because such things require strength; you may not forget Salt in all your Pastes, and work these Pastes made with hot Liquor much more than the other.

To make a Veal Pie in Summer.

Take thin slices of a Fillet of Veal, then having your Pie ready and Butter in it, lay in your Veal seasoned with a little Nutmeg and Salt so cover it with Butter, and close it and bake it, then against it be drawn, scald some Goosberries or Grapes in Sugar and water as to preserve, and when you open your Pie, put in pieces of Marrow boiled in white Wine with a little blade of Mace:

Then put these Grapes or Goosberries over all, or else some hard Lettuce or Spinage boiled and buttered.

To make a Pie of Larks, or of Sparrows.

Pluck your Birds and draw them, then fill the Bellies of them with this mixture following, grated bread, sweet herbs minced small, Beef Suet or Marrow minced, Almonds blanched and beated with Rosewater, a little Cream; beaten Spice, and a little Salt, some Eggs and some Currans, mix these together, and do as I have said, then having your Pie ready raised or laid in your baking-pan, put in Butter, and then fill it with Birds.

Then put in Nutmeg, Pepper and Salt, and put in the yolks of hard Eggs, and some sweet herbs minced, then lay in pieces of Marrow, and cover it with Butter, and so close it and bake it; then cut it open and wring in the Juice of an Orange and some Butter, and serve it.

To make a Pie of a rosted Kidney of Veal.

Mince the Kidney with the Fat, and put to it some sweet herbs minced very small, a quarter of a pound of Dates stoned, and sliced thin and minced, season it with beaten Spice, Sugar and Salt, put in half a pound of Currans, and some grated bread, mingle all these together very well with Verjuice and Eggs, and make them into Balls, so put some Butter into your Pie, and then these Balls, then more Butter, so close it and bake it;

Then cut it open, and put in Verjuice, Butter and Sugar made green with the Juice of some Spinage, add to it the yolks of Eggs.

To make a Potato Pie.

Having your Pie ready, lay in Butter, and then your Potatoes boiled very tender, then some whole Spice and Marrow, Dates and the yolks of hard Eggs blanched Almonds, and Pistacho Nuts, the Candied Pills of Citron, Orange and Limon, put in more Butter close it and bake it, then cut it open, and put in Wine, Sugar, the yolks of Eggs and Butter.

To make a Lettuce Pie.

Take your Cabbage Lettuce and cut them in halves, wash them and boil them in water and salt very green, then drain them from the water, so having your Pie in readiness, put in Butter; then put in your boiled Lettuce, with some Marrow, Raisins of the Sun stoned, Dates stoned and sliced thin, with some large Mace, and Nutmeg sliced, then put in more Butter, close it and bake it; then cut it open, and put in Verjuice, Butter and Sugar, and so serve it.

To make a Pie of Shrimps, or of Prawns.

Pick them clean from their Shells, and have in readiness your Pie with
Butter in the bottom, then lay in your Fish with some large Mace and
Nutmeg, and then Butter again, and so bake it:

Then cut it up and put in some White Wine and an Anchovy or two, and some Butter, and so serve them in hot; thus you may do with Lobsters or Crabs, or with Crafish.

To make a Chicken-Pie.

Make your Paste with cold Cream, Flower, Butter and the yolk of an Egg, roul it very thin, and lay it in your Baking-pan, then lay Butter in the Bottom.

Then lay in your Chickens cut in quarters with some whole Mace, and
Nutmeg sliced, with some Marrow, hard Lettuce, Eryngo Root, and Citron
Pill, with a few Dates stoned and sliced:

Then lay good store of Butter, Close up your Pie and Bake it:

Then Cut it open, and put in some Wine, Butter, and Sugar with the Yolks of two or three Eggs well beaten together over the fire, till it be thick, so serve it to the Table, and garnish your Dish with some pretty Conceits made in Paste.

To make a Pigeon-Pie.

Make your Paste as for the Pasty, roul it thin, and lay it into your baking-pan, then lay in Butter, then mix Pepper and Salt and Butter together, and fill the bellies of your Pigeons, then lay them in, and put in some large Mace, and little thin slices of Bacon, then cover them with Butter, and close your Pie, and bake it not too much.

To make a Pie with Eels and Oisters.

Make your Paste, and roul it thin, and lay it into your baking Pan, then take great Eels and flay them, and gut them, cut them in pieces, and wash them, and dry them, then lay some Butter into your Pie, and season your Eels with Pepper, Salt, Nutmeg, Cloves and Mace, and lay them in, then cover them all over with greast Oisters, and put in three or four Bay Leaves, then put in more of your beaten Spices and Salt, then cover them well with Butter, and put in two or three Spoonfuls of white Wine, so close it and bake it, then serve it in hot to the Table.

To make a Pie with Parsneps and Oisters very good.

Take your Parsneps tenderly boiled; and slice them thin, then having your Paste ready laid in your baking-pan, put in a good store of Butter, then lay in a Lay of Parsneps, and some large Mace, and Pepper cracked, then some Oisters and Yolks of Eggs hard boiled, then more Spice and butter, then more Parsneps, then more Oisters, then more hard Eggs, more Spice, and cover it well, and bake it, and serve it in hot.

To make a Tart of Spinage.

Take a good quantity of green Spinage, boil it in water and salt, and drain it well in a Cullender, then put to it plumped Currants, Nutmeg, Salt, Sugar and Butter, with a little Cream, and the yolks of hard Eggs beaten fine, then having your Paste ready laid in your baking-pan, lay in a little butter, and then your Spinage, and then a little Butter again; so close it, and bake it, and serve it to the Table hot, with Sugar strewed over it.

To make a Calvesfoot Pie.

Take six Calves feet tenderly boiled, and cut them in halves, then make some Paste with fine Flower, Butter, cold Cream and the yolk and white of one Egg, rowl it very thin, and lay it into your baking-pan, then lay some butter in the bottom, and then your Calves feet with some large Mace, half a pound of Raisins of the Sun, half a pound of Currans, then lay more butter and close it and bake it, then cut it up, and put in the yolks of three Eggs, some white Wine, Butter and a little Salt, and so serve it to the Table; Garnish your Dish with pretty Conceits made in Paste, and baked a little.

To make an Artichoke Pie.

Make your Paste as before named, and roul it thin, and lay it into your baking-pan.

Then lay in Butter sliced thin, and then your bottoms of Artichokes tenderly boiled, season it with a little Salt, a little gross Pepper, and some sliced Nutmeg, with a blade or two of Mace and a little Sugar, then lay in some Marrow, Candied Orange and Citron Pill, with some Candied Eringo Roots; then cover it with butter, and close it with your Paste, and so bake it, then cut it up, and put in white Wine, Butter, and the yolks of Eggs and Sugar; cover it again, and serve it to the Table.

To make an Oyster-Pie.

Make your Paste as before, and lay it in your Pan, then lay in Butter, and then put in as many great Oysters as will almost fill your Pan, with their Liquor strained, some whole Pepper, Mace and Nutmeg; then lay in Marrow and the Yolks of hard Eggs, so cover them with Butter, close them, and bake your Pie, then put in White Wine, Anchovies, Butter and the Yolks of Eggs; cover it again and serve it the Table.

To make a Pig-Pie.

Take a large Pig and slit it in two, and bone it, onely the two sides,
not the head, then having your Paste ready laid in your Pan, and some
Butter in the bottom, lay in your Pig, season it with Pepper, Salt,
Nutmeg and Mace, and one handful of Sage shred small and mixed with the
Spice and Salt, then lay in more Butter, close it, and bake it.

Serve it in cold with Mustard, and garnish your Dish with Bay Leaves.

If you would eat it hot, you must leave out the Pepper and some of the Salt, and put in store of Currans, and when it comes out of the Oven, put in some Butter, Vinegar, and Sugar, and so serve it.

To make a Pig Pie.

Spit a whole Pigg and rost it till it will flay, then take it off the
Spit, and take off the Skin, and lard it with Hogs Lard; season it with
Pepper, Salt, Nutmeg and Sage, then lay it into your Pie upon some
Butter, then lay on some large Mace, and some more Butter, and close it
and bake it: It is either good hot or cold.

To make a Carp Pie.

Take a large Carp and scale him, gut and wash him clean, and dry him well, then lay Butter into your Pie, and fill your Carps belly with this Pudding; grated bread, sweet herbs, and a little Bacon minced small, the yolks of hard Eggs and an Anchovie minced, also a little Marrow, Nutmeg, and then put in a little Salt, but a very little, and make some of this up in Balls, then Lard the Carp, sew up his Belly, and lay him into your Pie, then lay in the Balls of Pudding, with some Oysters, Shrimps and Capers, and the yolks of hard Eggs and a little Slices of Bacon, then put in large Mace and Butter, so close it and bake it, then cut off the Lid, and stick it full of pretty Conceits made in Paste, and serve it in hot.

To make a Carp Pie.

Have your Paste ready laid in your bake-pan, and some Butter in the bottom.

Then take a large Carp, scale him, gut him, and wash him clean, and dry him in a Cloth, then lay him into your Pan with some whole Cloves, Mace, and sliced Nutmeg, with two handfuls of Capers, then put in some White Wine, and mix some Butter with Salt, and lay all over; then close it, and bake it; this is very good to be eaten either hot or cold.

To make a Red Deer Pie.

Bone your Venison, and if it be a Side, then skin it, and beat it with an Iron Pestle but not too small, then lay it in Claret wine, and Vinegar, in some close thing two days and nights if it be Winter, else half so long, then drain it and dry it very well, and if lean, lard it with fat Bacon as big as your finger, season it very high with all manner of Spices and Salt, make your Pie with Rye Flower, round and very high, then lay store of Butter in the bottom and Bay Leaves, then lay in your Venison with more Bay leaves and Butter; so close it, and make a Tunnel in the middle, and bake it as long as you do great Loaves, when it is baked, fill it up with melted Butter, and so keep it two or three months, serve it in with the Lid off, and Bay Leaves about the Dish; eat it with mustard and sugar.

To make a Pie of a Leg of Pork.

Take a Leg of Pork well powdred and stuffed with all manner of good
Herbs, and Pepper, and boil it very tender, then take off the Skin, and
stick it with Cloves and Sage Leaves, then put it into your Pie with
Butter top and bottom, close it and bake it, and eat it cold with
Mustard and Sugar.

To make a Lamprey Pie.

Take your Lamprey and gut him, and take away the black string in the back, wash him very well, and dry him, and season him with Nutmeg, Pepper and Salt, then lay him into your Pie in pieces with Butter in the bottom, and some Shelots and Bay Leaves and more Butter, so close it and bake it, and fill it up with melted Butter, and keep it cold, and serve it in with some Mustard and Sugar.

To make a Salmon Pie.

Take a Joll of Salmon raw, and scale it and lay it into your Pie upon Butter and Bay leaves, then season it with whole spice and a little Salt, then lay on some Shrimps and Oysters with some Anchovies, then more Spice and Butter, so close the lid and bake it, but first put in some White Wine, serve it hot, then if it wants, put in more Wine and Butter.

To make a Calves head Pie.

Make your Paste, and lay it into your Pan as before, then lay in Butter, and then your Calves Head, being tenderly boiled, and cut in little thin bits, and seasoned with Pepper, Salt and Nutmeg, then put in some Oysters, Anchovies and Claret Wine, with some yolks of hard Eggs and Marrow, then cover it with Butter, and close it and bake it; when it is baked, eat it hot.

To make a Hare-Pie.

Take the flesh of a very large Hare, and beat it in a Mortar with as much Marrow or Beef Suet as the Hare contains, then put in Pepper, Salt, Nutmeg, Cloves and Mace, as much as you judge to be fit, and beat it again till you find they be well mixed, then having your Paste ready in your Baking-Pan, lay in some Butter, and then your Meat, and then Butter again; so close it, and bake it, and when it is cold, serve it in with Mustard and Sugar, and garnish your Dish with Bay leaves; this will keep much longer than any other Pie.

To make a Steak-Pie with Puddings in it.

Lay your Paste ready in your Pan, and lay some butter in the bottom, then lay a Neck of Mutton cut into steaks thereon, then take some of the best of a Leg of Mutton minced small, with as much Beef Suet as Mutton; season it with beaten Spice and Salt, and a little Wine, Apples shred small, a little Limon Pill, a little Verjuice and Sugar, then put in some Currans, and when they are well mixed, make it into Balls with the yolks of Eggs, and lay them upon the steaks, then put in some Butter and close your Pie and bake it, and serve it in hot.

To make a Pompion-Pie.

Having your Paste ready in your Pan, put in your Pompion pared and cut in thin slices, then fill up your Pie with sharp Apples, and a little Pepper, and a little Salt, then close it, and bake it, then butter it, and serve it in hot to the Table.

To make good minced Pies.

Take one pound and half of Veal parboiled, and as much Suet, shred them very fine, then put in 2 pound of Raisins, 2 pound of Currans, 1 pound of Prunes, 6 Dates, some beaten Spice, a few Caraway seeds, a little Salt, Verjuice, Rosewater and Sugar, to fill your Pies, and let them stand one hour in the Oven:

When they go to Table strew on fine Sugar.

To make most excellent and delicate Pies.

Take two Neats tongues tenderly boiled, and peel them, and mince them small with some Beef Suet or Marrow, then take a pound of Currans and a pound of Raisins of the Sun stoned, some beaten Spice, Rosewater, a little Salt, a little Sack and Sugar.

Beat all these with the minced meat in a Mortar till it come to a perfect Paste, then having your Paste ready laid in your baking-Pan, fill it or them with this meat, then lay on the top some sliced Dates, and so close them, and bake them.

To make a Stump Pie.

Take a pound of Veal and as much Suet, parboil your Veal, and shred them together, but not very small, then put in one pound of Raisins, one pound of Currans, four Ounces of Dates stoned and sliced thin, some beaten Spice, Rosewater and Sugar, and a little Salt, then take the yolks of Eggs well beaten, and mix amongst the rest of the things very well, then having your Pie ready, fill it and press it down, then lid it, and bake it.

To make Egg-Pies.

Take the yolks of eight hard Eggs, and shred them small with their weight of Beef Suet minced very small also, then put in one pound of Currans, four Ounces of Dates stoned and sliced, some beaten Spice, Limon pill, Rosewater and Sugar, and a little Salt, mix them well together, if you please, you may put in an Apple shred small, so fill your Pies and bake them, but not too much, serve them to the Table with a little Wine.

To make an Eel-Pie.

Take your largest Eels, and flay them, and cut them in pieces, then having your Pie ready with Butter in the bottom, season your Eels with Pepper, Salt and Nutmeg, then lay them in and cover them with Butter, so close it and bake it, if you please, you may put in some Raisins of the Sun, and some large Mace, it is good hot or cold.

To make a Herring Pie.

Take four of the best pickled Herrings, and skin them, then split them and bone them, then having your Pie in readiness with Butter in the bottom, then lay your Herrings in halves into your Pie one lay of them, then put in Raisins, Currans and Nutmeg, and a little Sugar, then lay in more Butter, then more Herrings, Fruit and Spice, and more Butter, and so close it, and bake it; your Herrings must be well watered.

To make an Olive Pie.

Having your Paste in readiness with Butter in the bottom, lay in some of the forenamed Olives, but not fastned with a Scure, then put in Currans, hard Eggs, and sweet Butter, with some herbs shred fine; be sure you cover it well with Butter, and put in a little white Wine and Sugar, and close it, and bake it, eat it hot or cold, but hot is better.

To season a Chicken-Pie.

Having your Paste rolled thin, and laid into your baking-pan, lay in some Butter, then lay in your Chickens quartered, and seasoned with Pepper, Nutmeg and a little Salt, then put in Raisins, Currans, and Dates, then lay Butter on the top, close it and bake it, then cut it up, and put in Clouted Cream, Sack and Sugar.

To make an Herb Pie.

Take Spinage, hard Lettice, and a few sweet herbs, pick them, wash them, and shred them, and put them into your Pie with Butter, and Nutmeg and Sugar, and a little Salt, to close it and bake it, then draw it and open it, and put in Clouted Cream; Sack and Sugar, and stir it well together, and serve it in.

To make a Pumpion Pie.

Take a Pumpion, pare it, and cut it in thin slices, dip it in beaten Eggs and Herbs shred small, and fry it till it be enough, then lay it into a Pie with Butter, Raisins, Currans, Sugar and Sack, and in the bottom some sharp Apples; when it is baked, butter it and serve it in.

To make Pasty of a Joll of Ling.

Make your Crust with fine Flower, Butter, cold Cream, and two yolks of
Eggs:

Roul it thin and lay it in your Bake-pan, then take part of a Joll of Ling well boiled, and pull it all in Bits, then lay some Butter into your Pasty and then the Ling, then some grated Nutmeg, sliced Ginger, Cloves and Mace, Oysters, Muscles, Cockles, and Shrimps, the yolks of raw Eggs, a few Comfits perfumed, Candied Orange Pill, Citron Pill, and Limon Pill, with Eringo Roots:

Then put in white Wine, and good store of Butter, and put on a thick lid, when it is baked, open it, and let out the steam.

To make a Pallat Pie.

Take Oxe Pallats and boil them so tender that you may run a straw through them; to three Palates take six Sheeps tongues boiled tender and peeled, three sweet-Breads of Veal, cut all these in thin slices, then having your Pie ready, and Butter in the bottom, lay in these things, first seasoned with Pepper, Salt and Nutmeg, and Thyme and Parsley shred small, and as the Season of the year is, put into it Asparagus, Anchovies, Chesnuts, or what you please else, as Candied Orange Pill, Limon Pill, or Citron Pill, with Eringo roots, and yolks of hard Eggs, some Marrow and some Oysters, then lay in good store of Butter on the top, so close it and bake it, then put in white Wine, buter, the yolks of Eggs, and Vinegar and Sugar; heat them together over the fire, and serve it in.

To make a rare Lamb Pie.

Take a Leg of Lamb, and take the meat clean out of it at the great end, but keep the skin whole, then press the Meat in a Cloth, and mince it small, and put as much Beef Suet to it as the Meat in weight, and mince it small, then put to it Naples Bisket grated fine, season it with beaten Spice, Rosewater, and a little Salt, then put in some Candied Limon Pill, Orange Pill, and Citron Pill shred small, and some Sugar, then put part of the Meat into the skin, then having your Pie in readiness, and Butter in the bottom, lay in this Meat, then take the rest of your Meat, and make it into Balls or Puddings with yolks of Eggs, then lay them into the Pie to fill up the Corners, then take Candied Orange, Limon and Citron Pill, cut in long narrow slices and strew over it; you may put in Currans and Dates if you please, then lay on Butter, and close up your Pie and bake it, and leave a Tunnel, when it is baked, put in Sack, Sugar, yolks of Eggs and Butter heat together, if you put in Marrow, it will be the better.

To make little Pasties with sweet Meats to fry.


Make some Paste with cold water, butter and flower, with the yolk of an Egg, then roul it out in little thin Cakes, and lay one spoonful of any kind of Sweet meats you like best upon every one, so close them up and fry them with Butter, and serve them in with fine Sugar strewed on.

A Friday Pie without Fish or Flesh.

Wash a good quantity of green Beets, and pluck out the middle string, then chop them small, with two or three ripe Apples well relished, season it with Pepper, Salt, and Ginger, then add to it some Currans, and having your Pie ready, and Butter in the bottom, put in these herbs, and with them a little Sugar, then put Butter on the top, and close and bake it, then cut it up, and put in the juice of a Limon and Sugar.

To make Umble Pies.

Boil them very tender, and mince them very small with Beef Suet and Marrow then season it with beaten Spice and Salt, Rosewater and Sugar and a little Sack, so put it into your Paste with Currans and Dates.

To make a good pie of Beef.

Take the Buttock of a fat Oxe, slice it thin, mince it small and beat it in a Mortar to a Paste, then lard it very well with Lard, and season it with beaten Spice, then make your Pie, and put it in with some Butter and Claret Wine, and so bake it well, and serve it in cold with Mustard and Sugar, and garnish it with Bay-leaves.

To make a Steak-Pie.

Cut a Neck of Mutton in steaks, then season it with Pepper and Salt, lay your Paste into your Baking Pan, and lay Butter in the bottom, then lay in your steaks, and a little large Mace, and cover it with Butter, so close it, and bake it; and against it is baked, have in readiness good store of boiled Parslie minced fine, and drained from the water, some white Wine and some Vinegar, sweet Butter and Sugar, cut open your Pie, and put in this Sauce, and shake it well, and serve it to the Table; it is not so good cold as hot.

To make a Pie of a Gammon of Bacon.

Take a Westphalia Gammon, and boil it tender with hay in the Kettle, then take off the Skin and stick it with Cloves and strew it with Pepper, then make your Pie ready, and put it therein with Butter at the bottom, then cover your Bacon with Oysters, parboiled in Wine and their own Liquor, and put in Balls made of Sausage meat, then put in the Liquor of the parboiled Oysters, some whole Spice and Bay Leaves, with some Butter, so close it, and bake it and eat it cold, you may put into it the yolks of hard Eggs if you please, serve it with Mustard Sugar and Bay Leaves.

To make a Venison Pasty.

Take a Peck of fine Flower, and three Pounds of fresh Butter, break your Butter into your Flower, and put in one Egg, and make it into a Past with so much cold cream as you think fit, but do not mould it too much, then roul it pretty thin and broad, almost square, then lay some Butter on the bottom, then season your Venison on the fleshy side with Pepper grosly beaten, and Salt mixed, then lay your Venison upon your butter with the seasoned side downward, and then cut the Venison over with your Knife quite cross the Pasty to let the Gravie come out the better in baking, then rub some seasoning in those Cuts, and do not lay any else because it will make it look ill-favoured and black, then put some paste rouled thin about the Meat to keep it in compass, and lay Butter on the top, then close it up and bake it very well, but you must trim it up with several Fancies made in the same Paste, and make also a Tunnel or Vent, and just when you are going to set it into the Oven, put in half a Pint of Clarret Wine, that will season your Venison finely, and make it shall not look or taste greasie, thus you may bake Mutton if you please.

To make a Mutton Pie.

Cut a Loin or Neck of Mutton in steaks, and season it with Pepper and
Salt, and Nutmeg, then lay it in your Pie upon Butter; then fill up your
Pie with Apples sliced thin, and a few great Onions sliced thin, then
put in more Butter, and close it and bake it, and serve it in hot.

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