Meat pie

“ The quantities depend on the size of the pie. The following are the ingredients: Take the best end of the neck of mutton, cut it into chops, trim the fat; pare, core, and slice as for a tart 6 or 8 apples; chop up a small onion; put a layer of apples and a little onion at the bottom of the dish, then a layer of chops, next a layer of apples and onions, and so on till the dish is full. Scatter among the apples 1⁄2 teacupful moist sugar, and shake a very little pepper and salt over the meat. Put on a crust and bake as an ordinary meat pie. It may be eaten with either sugar or salt. ”

“ Meat-pies are in great demand. The crust is baked alone in a round flat piece, and laid out on a counter, which is soon very greasy, ready to be filled. A large dish of hash is also ready, and when a customer calls the requisite amount of meat is clapped on one side of the paste, the other half doubled over it, and he departs eating his halfmoon-shaped pie. ”

“ You may make a similar pie of mutton chops, or veal cutlets, or venison steaks, always leaving out the bone and fat.
Many persons in making pies stew the meat slowly in a little water till about half done, and they then put it with its gravy into the paste and finish by baking. In this case add no water to the pie, as there will be already sufficient liquid. If you half-stew the meat, do the potatoes with it. ”

“ 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. ”

“ When tender, pick the meat from most of the bones, leaving a few small ones to give shape to the pie; roll the meat in well-beaten eggs; three will suffice to wet it; then roll it in flour; cover the pie-dish with part of the paste, rolled about a quarter of an inch thick. Cut a strip of crust to place around the edge of the dish, and lay the meat in neatly, cutting in a few bits of butter, two table-spoonfuls will do, and pour over the meat the water in which it was cooked, which should have boiled down so as to leave only enough to make the pie juicy. ”

“ Stewed beef, veal, and chicken are probably most frequently used in pies, but any kind of meat may be used, or several kinds in combination. Pork pies are favorite dishes in many rural regions, especially at hog-killing time, and when well made are excellent.
If pies are made from raw meat and vegetables longer cooking is needed than otherwise, and in such cases it is well to cover the dish with a plate, cook until the pie is nearly done, then remove the plate, add the crust, and return to the oven until the crust is lightly browned. ”

“ When washed, put a good seasoning of spices and salt. Set it over a fire in a stewpan, that will just hold the meat: put a piece of butter, and, covering close, let it simmer in its own steam till it shrink. It must be cool before it be put into the pie. Chicken’s sweetbreads, giblets, pigeon’s meat, almost any thing will make a good pie, if well seasoned, and made tender by stewing. A forcemeat may be put under and over, of cold chicken or veal, fat bacon, shred ham, herbs, bread, and seasoning, bound with an egg or two, or in balls. Or instead of crust, use an earthen pie form. ”

“ Australian meat can also be used for making a meat pie. To make a good meat pie, you must melt the jelly, pour it into a saucepan, and boil with it six beads of garlic, and also add some gelatine to make the jelly when cold nice and firm. In fact, it should be quite as firm as an ordinary mould of jelly. Now place the Australian meat in a piedish, pour the gravy over it, and place a few very thin slices of bacon on the top. You can also mix with the pie a teaspoonful of chopped parsley, and be sure to add plenty of black pepper. ”

“ A baked meat pie, though not always very digestible, is far less objectionable than plain baked meat. In the case of a meat pie the surfaces of the meat are protected by a bad conductor of heat from that charring of the surface which generates empyreumatic vapours, and the fat and gravy, gradually rising in temperature, assist the cooking, and such cooking more nearly resembles stewing than baking. ”

“ If you have no gravy, a piece of kidney will enrich the gravy of the beef, and is a valuable addition to a meat pie. Forcemeat in layers between the slices of beef, or in small balls, makes this much richer; if to be eaten cold, suet must not be used: some cooks put in a few large oysters also. Walnut or mushroom catsup. A good gravy may be poured into the pie, when baked.
Pork Pie.
This is generally made in a raised crust, but in a common pie dish, with a plain crust, it is very good. Season with pepper and salt. Cut all the meat from the bones, and do not put any water into the pie. ”

“ Place one and one-half cups of milk in a saucepan and add six tablespoons of flour and stir to dissolve, and then bring to a boil and cook for three minutes. Add the prepared dried beef and two tablespoons of finely minced parsley and let simmer slowly until the popovers are ready.
Cut a slice from the tops of the popovers and fill them with the prepared creamed beef. Place a tiny dot of butter on top of each popover and dust lightly with paprika.
KIDNEY PIE
The meat pie can be made to be an economical dish. These pies are served in the Chelsea Coffee House in London. ”

“ 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 No. 18 (Chapter VIII.) , [116] or with the truffled sausage-meat of page 263. 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ If an inexperienced worker finds any difficulty in raising the pie by hand alone, a small jar may be placed in the centre of the paste, and the paste moulded over it. When the lower part of the pie has been raised to the necessary shape and thinness, subsequent work may be made much easier by putting in some of the meat, and pressing it firmly down to support the lower part of the pie. Before adding the lid, moisten the meat with 2 or 3 tablespoonfuls of the prepared seasoned gravy ”

“ Take 11⁄2 pint of the stock from which you took the meat, reduce it one-third by boiling, flavour it with a teaspoonful of Yorkshire relish or Worcester sauce, pepper, and for those who like it, a little tarragon vinegar. Trim the meat, that is, take off the white skin, cut the rest into pieces, about 1 in. in size, lay them in your dish with the egg cut in slices, bacon or ham, till full, then pour in your gravy, cover with the paste, taking care to make an incision in the centre, and bake until the crust is sufficiently cooked. The pie should be eaten cold. ”

“ Boil the lard and water together, pour boiling on the flour, having first made a hole in the flour; mix well, and let it stand by the side of the fire—it must not be too cold or too hot, or it will not raise nicely; mould it as an ordinary raised pie the size you wish, fill the pies with the meat cut in very small square pieces, season it, pour a little water in, put on the lid, pinch the edges together, trim round with scissors, and ornament with leaves formed with a paste cutter; let the pies stand at least 4 hours before baking, put them in rather a slow oven, bake 11⁄2-2 hours ”

“ Cut cutlets from the leg, or chops from the neck or loin, season with pepper and salt, and place them in a dish, fill this with gravy or water, and, if you choose, strew over a very little minced onion or eschalot and parsley, and cover with a plain crust.—Squab Pie, is made of mutton, and between each layer of meat, slices of apples, potatoes, and shred onions.
Lamb Pie.
The same as mutton pie; only being more delicate, it does not require so much seasoning, and is best, made to turn out of patty pans. ”

“ Being boil’d, mince the legs, and strain the meat in the body with two or three yolks of eggs, mince also some sweet herbs and put to it some almond-paste or grated bread, a minced onion, some fat eel cut like little dice, or some fat belly of salmon; mingle it all together, and put it in a pie made according to this form, season it with nutmeg, pepper, salt, currans, and barberries, grapes, or gooseberries, mingle also some butter, and fill your pie, bake it, and being baked, liquor it with beaten butter and white wine. ”

“ Simple method of making Pies.—Make two pounds of flour into a paste, as No. 602, and also two pounds of forcemeat, mould three quarters of the paste into a ball, which, with a rolling-pin, roll to about half an inch in thickness and of an oval shape; lay half the forcemeat in the centre, which spread over to within two inches of the rim, having prepared and sautéd some veal and ham as directed for the veal and ham pie, No. 602, lay them alternately upon the forcemeat, with which again cover the meat, laying a pat of butter and a bay-leaf upon the top ”

“ If preferred, the pie can be made in a tin mould; but the crust is nicer raised by the hand. A great point to observe is to begin moulding the crust whilst it is hot, and to get it finished as quickly as possible.
VEAL AND HAM PIE.
Prepare the crust as for a pork pie. Cut a pound of veal cutlet and a quarter of a pound of ham into dice, season with a teaspoonful of salt and another of black pepper, put the meat into the crust, and finish as for pork pie. ”

“ The definition in Murray's Oxford Dictionary is "a mixture made of currants, raisins, sugar, suet, apples, almonds, candied peel, etc., and sometimes meat chopped small; used in mince pies"; which shows that in England, also, meat is not always an ingredient. It is only fair to consumers, however, that the law should compel the manufacturers to print the ingredients in each case on the label. Mince pie with meat is certainly better than mince pie without.
Perhaps I erred in saying that pumpkin pie is, next to apple pie, the most characteristic American pastry dish. ”

“ Take a calf's head and clean it, boil it as you would do for hashing, when it is cold cut it in thin slices, and season it with a little black pepper, nutmeg, salt, a few shred capers, a few oysters and cockles, two or three mushrooms, and green lemon-peel, mix them all well together, put them into your pie; it must be a standing pie baked in a flat pewter dish, with a rim of puff-paste round the edge; when you have filled the pie with the meat, lay on forc'd-meat-balls, and the yolks of some hard eggs, put in a little small gravy and butter ”

“ The meat is now prepared by being separated from every particle of bone, skin, and gristle, and cut into pieces about the size of dice. Care is taken to keep the fat and lean separate; but both are well seasoned with pepper and salt. A piece of the paste large enough to form one pie is then broken off the mass, and the rest is again covered up, as it cannot be worked if it is too cold, though it will not stand if it is too warm. If it breaks and crumbles, instead of being plastic, it is too cold; and if it is too soft, and falls when raised, it is either too warm or too rich. ”

“ The pie crust is prepared as in No. 16. The mince filling is prepared by cooking the lean beef in a little water, then removing fat and membranes, and chopping it fine. Apples are peeled, cored, chopped. Mix apples, meat, molasses, sugar, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, suet, chopped fine, cider, raisins, currants, citron, butter, salt and brandy, put into the crust and bake 45 minutes. ”

“ Take the fat from the top of your cold stock. Pick out some of the best pieces of meat—about a cupful—and [529] set aside. Add a pint of boiling water to the stock, and boil slowly, with the bones and the rest of the meat, for nearly an hour. Chop the meat reserved from the stock; make into force-meat with fine crumbs, seasoning with onion, parsley, pepper, salt, nutmeg, and binding with beaten egg. Flour your hands and make this into round balls. Roll them in flour; set in a floured pie-dish, not touching each other, and leave in a quick oven until crusted over. Let them cool. ”

“ If the pie be of fowl or rabbit, the carcases, necks, and heads, added to any piece of meat, will be sufficient, observing to give it a consistence by adding cow heel, or shanks of mutton. Put the meat into a stewpan that shuts very close, adding a slice of lean ham or bacon, a faggot of different herbs, two blades of mace, an onion or two, a small bit of lemon peel, a tea-spoonful of Jamaica pepper bruised, and the same of whole pepper, with three pints of water. As soon as it boils skim it well, let it simmer very slowly till it is quite strong, and then strain it. ”