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✪ Beef-Steak Pie 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 pa te
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
I0SAI>. XVIII.
PASTEYo
the crust. Some eaters 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£ 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✪ Common Mutton Pie 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^ lb, ; minced suet rather less than 2 lb. ; or, butter, 4 oz.,
and very pure lard, 2 or 3 oz. ; mutton, 2 lbs. ; salt, f oz. ; pepper,
half to a whole teaspoonful ; water, ^ pint : hour.
A GOOD MUTTON PIE.
Page 320 · 2 recipe records on this page
Presented as published in 1884. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
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 pa te 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
[illustration: Chapter XVIII]
PASTES
the crust. Some eaters 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£ 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^ lb, ; minced suet rather less than 2 lb. ; or, butter, 4 oz., and very pure lard, 2 or 3 oz. ; mutton, 2 lbs. ; salt, f oz. ; pepper, half to a whole teaspoonful ; water, ^ pint : hour.
A GOOD MUTTON PIE.
Records on this page
Beef-Steak PieCommon Mutton Pie