Francatelli Recipes for Meat Pies, Chapter 11
Welcome to FabulousFusionFood's Francatelli Recipes for Meat Pies — This page gives you the entire contents of the Eleventh Chapter: Meat Pies and Puddings from Charles Elmé Francatelli's 1861 volume, The Cook's Guide and Housekeeper's & Butler's Assistant. Each recipe is given here in its original form, with a link underneath to the modern redaction, should you wish to replicate it. This is the first time that Francatelli's book has been made available in its entirety on the internet. Enjoy...
The text presented here is derived directly from Francatelli's book and redacted specifically for this website. Please do not copy or use the content of these pages without first gaining permission.
CHAPTER XI.
No. 495.—CHICKEN AND HAM PIE.
CUT a chicken into small members; cover the bottom of a pie-dish with small thin collops of veal and ham, placed alternately; season with chopped mushrooms, shalot, and parsley, pepper and salt; then add a little white sauce, stock, or water ; next place the pieces of chicken in neat order, add a little more of the seasoning, and the yolks of four or six hard-boiled eggs ; mask all over with a little more sauce, cover with puff-paste, egg over, and ornament the top, and bake the pie for about an hour and a quarter.
No. 496.—PIGEON PIE A L'ANGLAISE.
Line the bottom of a pie-dish with small collops of lean rump-steak previously fried brown ; upon this place the halves of four pigeons, also fried ; season with chopped mushrooms, parsley, and shalot, pepper and salt ; pour half a pint of sauce, or gravy, or water, and a little catsup into the pan the meat has been fried in, to detach the glaze, and pour this over the pigeons, &c., in the dish ; add the yolks of six hard-boiled eggs, or some plovers' eggs when in season ; cover with puff-paste in the usual way ; bake the pie in a moderate oven for about an hour and a quarter.
No. 497.—GROUSE PIE A L'ECOSSAISE.
Pick and draw two or three young grouse ; cut off the wings and legs ' tuck the drumsticks in through a slit made under the thigh ; singe the birds over a charcoal flame : split them in halves; season and fry the with a bit of butter until half done ' and, simultaneously with this part of the operation, prepare also some collops of beef ; season, fry, and place them at the bottom of a pie-dish ; add chopped mushrooms, parsley and shalots, and a tablespoonful of Crosse and Blackwell's Oude sauce ; place the fried halves of grouse in neat order on this ; add a little more seasoning, and some hard-boiled yolks of eggs ; moisten with sufficient sauce, gravy, or water, and a little salt, to reach up to the sides of the pie-dis; cover with puff-paste, and bake for about one hour and a quarter.
No. 498.—PARTRIDGE PIE A LA CHASSEUR.
Truss loose, singe, and divide into halves three young partridges, season and fry them with a bit of butter ; line the pie-dish with thin collops of veal, and half-boiled bacon ; season with chopped mushrooms, and parsley, pepper and salt ; pour a gill of onion sauce over the veal &c. ; then place neatly the halves of partridges, repeat the seasoning, and the onion sauce ; add some hard-boiled yolks of eggs cover with paste ; bake for about one hour and a quarter, and pour in a little good gravy just before sending to table.
No. 499.—GIBLET PIE.
Procure tow sets of goose giblets (ready cleaned if possible ; parboil them in water with a little salt for about six minutes, and then wash and drain them to cool on a sieve. Next, place the giblets in a stewpan with carrots, celery, onion stuck with six cloves, garnished bouquet of parsley, thyme, marjoram, basil and spring-onions, and a few peppercorns; moisten with sufficient stock or water, and a little catsup, and stew the giblets very gently over a slow fire for about an hour and a half to two hours, the time required to cook them depending upon the age of the geese they are cut from. When the giblets are done, drain them on a sieve, wash and cut them in pieces measuring about two inches, livers and gizzards smaller; place these in a pie-dish already lined with seasoned beef-collops ; with the stock from the giblets make some sauce, well boiled and freed from all grease and impurities, and boiled down to a proper consistency ; pour it to the pie; add hard yolks of eggs ; cover with paste ; bake for one hour and a quarter, and serve.
No. 500.—BEEFSTEAK AND OYSTER PIE.
Cut up about two pounds of rumpsteak in collops the size of a teacup; trim away unnecessary fat and sinew without waste ; season with pepper and salt ; fry them brown on both sides with a little better than an ounce of butter; shake in two tablespoonfuls of flour ; add two dozen fresh-opened oysters and their liquor, a little Harvey, and chopped onion ; shake round gently over the fire, allowing all to simmer together for five minutes ; arrange the collops of beef, &c., neatly in the pie-dish ; add the sauce and a few cooked new potatoes ; cover with paste ; bake for one hour, and serve.
No. 501.—VEAL AND HAM PIE.
Cut up a pound and a half of veal-cutlet into collops twice the size of a crown-piece; and prepare also in the same manner about half a pound of ham or streaky bacon. Next, chop a few mushrooms, some parsley and shalot, and fry these with an ounce of butter in a small stewpan : season with pepper and salt; add a little catsup or Harvey, a good tablespoonful of flour and half a pint of gravy or water ; stir this sauce over the fire until it boils, then add the juice of half a lemon, and use it to mix with the veal and ham, as they are placed in alternate layers in the pie-dish ; place hard-boiled yolks of eggs on the surface, cover with puff-paste, bake for an hour and a quarter, and when the pie is done, pour in a little gravy, and serve.
No. 502.—MUTTON PIE A L'IRLANDAISE.
Trim a neck of mutton as if it was intended for cutlets, remove the superfluous fat ; separate the neck part into thick cutlets without trimming them wastefully ; divide the short ribs and scrag-end into equal-sized pieces of about two inches square ; highly season these with pepper and salt, place them in a stew pan with enough water to cover the meat, and set it to stew for half an hour over a rather slow fire : the gravy must now be strained from the meat, freed from grease, poured again to the meat ; add thereto six onions and eight potatoes, put the lid on the stewpan, and set the whole to stew gently for another half hour ; at the expiration of this time, arrange the cutlets, &c., neatly round the pie-dish ; lift the potatoes and onions into the centre without smashing them ; boil down the gravy to the quantity required to fill up the pie ; sprinkle a couple of dozen of oysters over the surface ; cover the pie with potato-paste, egg it over, bake it for an hour, and serve a sauce-boat of gravy separately.
Note.—The potato-paste here alluded to is made an follows :—bake a dozen large potatoes, and when done, and just out of the oven, immediately rub their pulp through a clean wire sieve; put this into a stewpan with two ounces of butter, four yolks of eggs, nutmeg, pepper and salt ; stir the paste over the fire until it ceases to adhere to the sides of the stewpan, and then roll it out on the slab with flour ;—and remember that: inasmuch as this kind of paste possesses but little elasticity, it must be handled with care, and when rolled out to the size and in the form of the dish which has to be covered with it, the cover should be divided into two or four parts (according to the size of the pie); by this contrivance, it will be more easily adjusted on the top, by gently pressing the joints together with the flat part of the thumb; parts of the paste should be used to decorate the surface of the pie in the usual way.
Note.—This paste serves also for potato croquets.
No. 503.—POTTED SNIPES, IRISH FASHION.
The snipes shot in Ireland are the finest flavoured known, and are or were prepared in a very simple yet excellent fashion, which renders them a great delicacy for the breakfast-table. In order to enable you to indulge in this delectable bonne-bouche, I will at once furnish you with the necessary instructions to solve the mystery and gratify your longing.
The snipes intended to be used for this purpose must be perfectly fresh. After being lucked, their legs and wings are to be cut off ; merely remove the gizzard with the point of a knife, leaving all the inside or trail undisturbed ; the snipes should be split in halves, and placed on a dish. Next, take what is called an earthen-ware oval pie-pan, such as is commonly used for potting meats. &c. ; line the bottom and sides of this with very thin layers of fat bacon ; arrange therein the prepared snipes in neat rows; season between each row with coarsely ground black pepper and salt ; and when the pan is nearly filled, pour in sufficient clarified fresh butter to cover the surface of the snipes ; put the lid of the pan on; lute all round the edge of the pan with slack flour-and-water paste to confine the steam which arises from the snipes, &c., while baking, and which, by being thus prevented from escaping entirely, not only improves the flavour of the pie by condensation, but also tends to dissolve the bones sufficiently to render them edible : there being a hole on the top of the lid, it acts as a safety-valve. These pies must be baked in an oven of moderate heat, and are intended to be eaten when quite cold only.
Note.—Woodcocks, fieldfares, plovers, young pheasants, partridges, or grouse, larks, wheatears, and especially ortolains and becaficos, are most excellent when dressed as indicated in this number.
No. 504.—PIE OF SMALL BIRDS.
The birds best calculated to suit this purpose consist of fieldfares, blackbirds, and larks : these birds are only fit for table during the months of November, December, January ; and are in the greatest perfection during frosty weather. The birds intended for this pie should be stuffed with the following preparation: viz.,—soak the crumbs of a French roll in a little milk ; put it in a stewpan with two ounces of butter, a little grated lemon-peel, shalot, chopped parsley, nutmeg, pepper and salt, a pinch of aromatic herbs, and three yolks of eggs ; stir this over the fire until it becomes a compact paste ; and use it to fill the insides of the birds intended for the pie. You then line the bottom of a pie-dish with fried collops of beef, and place thereon the birds in neat order ; pour some fine-herbs over these ; add hard-boiled yolks of eggs ; cover with puff paste ; bake the pie for an hour and a quarter and serve.
No. 505.—LARK PIE A LA MELTON MOWBRAY.
Cut about one pound of veal into small collops, and fry them with an equal proportion of collops of ham or bacon and place them at the bottom of a pie-dish ; then fry two dozen larks from which the gizzard only has been removed, by picking it out from under the thigh with the point of a knife; season with chopped parsly, truffle, and shallot, pepper and salt, some mushroom catsup, button mushrooms, and a large tablespoon of flour; moisten with half a pint of gravy or water, stir over the tire until it boils, and then add the whole to the collops of veal, &c., contained in the pie-dish ; cover with puff-paste, bake for an hour and a quarter and serve.
No. 506.—BEEFSTEAK AND OYSTER PUDDING.
Line the pudding-basin with suet-paste, which has been previously rolled out to the thickness of about a quarter of an inch, and fill the pudding with beef collops prepared as indicated in No. 500 ; wet round the edge of the paste with water ; fasten a cover of the same paste all round, by pressing equally on the edges with the foreigner and thumb ; twist the edge in with a twirl; make a small hole in the centre ; steam or boil the pudding for two hours and a half; turn it out of the basin with care, and serve.
No. 507.—MUTTON PUDDING.
Whether collops or cutlets of mutton are used for this purpose, they must be fried in a saucepan with an ounce of butter, seasoned with chopped mushrooms, parsley, and shallot, pepper and salt ; and when browned on both sides without being done through, must be sprinkled over with a large spoonful of flour, moistened with, half a pint of gravy, or water with mushroom catsup, and after being allowed to simmer over the fire for three minutes, are to be placed in neat order in the pudding-basin already lined with a suet-crust; and some thick slices of potatoes which have been scarcely half done, are to be placed in between the collops of mutton ; pour the sauce over all, cover in with suet paste as in No. 506, steam or boil for two hours and a half and serve.
No. 508.—KIDNEY PUDDING.
Cut about a pound and a half of ox-veal, sheep, or lamb kidneys, into rather thin collops, and put them in a basin : season with fineherbs sauce, No. 74, and a dessert-spoonful of Crosse and Blackwell’s Oude sauce ; mix together ;—and, having lined a pudding-basin with suet-paste in the usual manner, fill it with the prepared kidneys, cover the pudding with a circular piece of paste fastened all round, steam or boil it for an hour and a half, and serve.
No. 509.—PUDDING A LA CHIPOLATA.
Either fieldfares, jackanapes, larks, or wheatears may be used for this purpose :—take about a pound of any one kind of the above-named birds, picked, singed, and the gizzards removed, and fry them with an ounce of butter, pepper and salt—merely to brown-without scarcely half-cooking them ; add a ready prepared chipolata ragout, No. 123; simmer together for three minutes, and when cold, use this to fill a ready-lined basin ; finish in the usual way, and steam the pudding for an hour and a half.
No. 510.—SNIPE PUDDING A LʼEPICURIEN.
Pluck, singe, and divide six fresh snipes in halves; remove the gizzards, and reserve the trail for use hereafter ; season the snipes with cayenne and lemon-juice, and a sprinkle of salt, and set them aside until wanted. Next, slice up a Portugal onion, and fry it with a bit of butter of a light colour ; throw in a good tablespoonful of flour, chopped mushrooms, parsley, a suspicion of garlic on the point of a knife, grated nutmeg, and a pinch of aromatic herbs, No. 671 ; moisten with half a pint of wine ; stir the whole over the fire to boil for about ten minutes, then add the trail, and rub this through a tammy ; meanwhile, a pudding-basin should be lined with a with a thin crust of suet-paste the snipes and sauce, and some scollops of truffles arranged neatly therein ; cover it with paste ; steam for an hour and a half ; turn it out with care, and serve.
No. 511.—SAUSAGE PUDDING.
Procure a pound of Cambridge sausages, and twist each into three balls ; put these into boiling water merely to scald them sufficiently so as to remove the skin. Line a pudding-basin with suet-paste, fill it with the sausages, and pour the following preparation over them: viz.,—chop an onion and two sage-leaves, and fry them with a bit of butter in a small stew pan, add a dessert-spoonful of flour and an equal proportion of Crosse and Blackwell’s Oude sauce, and a little salt, stir it over the fire until it boils ; and having poured it on the sausages, cover the pudding with paste in the usual way; steam it for an hour and a half, and serve.
No. 512.—YORKSHIRE VEAL CAKE.
Prepare the following ingredients: viz.,—about a pound and a half of veal collops, three-quarters of a pound of thin slices of ham, or of streaky bacon (previnously parboiled for ten minutes to remove its saltness), four eggs boiled hard. Some aspic jelly, No. 7, must have been prepared with a pound of knuckle of veal, the trimmings from the collops, and a calfʼs foot or cow heel ; or, failing these, four ounces of gelatine may be used instead. Next take an earthen pie-pan—such as is commonly used for potting meats, &c.; spread or pour a layer of the aspic jelly at the bottom, of about the sixteenth of an inch deep, and upon this place in neat circles a layer of veal collops; season with pepper and salt, chopped parsley and shallot, then put a layer of ham, and upon this a layer of hard eggs cut in neat slices; repeat the seasoning and aspic jelly, and so on, until the whole of the ingredients are used up. Cover the pie-pan or basin with stiff flour-and-water paste; bake it on a baking-sheet containing a little water to prevent the possibility of the aspic jelly contained in the cake from being dried up (an accident which might occur if the oven happen to be too hot). Bake the pie or cake for an hour and a quarter in moderate heat, and when done, set it in a cold place until the next day; it may then be turned out whole on a dish, garnished with fresh parsley, and served for breakfast or luncheon.
No. 513.—YORKSHIRE HARE CAKE.
Remove all the flesh from a hare in as large pieces as possible,—that is, take out the fillets, remove the shoulders and hind quarters, and bone them; cut all the meat into collops about a quarter of an inch thick, and set them aside on a plate: with the carcass and trimmings, and a cow-heel or calf’s-foot, make some well seasoned aspic jelly, No. 7 ; prepare also some thin slices of ham and hard eggs, seasoning, &c., as indicated for veal cake, using for game cakes the addition of aromatic seasoning, No. 671. In all respects prepare and finish the hare cake as directed in No. 512.
Note.—These cakes are excellent, and inexpensive in their preparation, and may be varied by using pork, beef, mutton, venison, poultry, or any kind of game in their composition, instead of veal or hare.
No. 5l4.—FISH PIE A LA STE. TERESA.
For this purpose it is necessary to prepare some forcemeat of whiting or haddock, No. 186. Line a plain oblong tin mould with short-paste, No. 756; spread a layer of force meat at the bottom, about an inch thick; cover this with a slice of salmon and fillets of anchovies; season with chopped parsley and spring-onions, and a little pepper and salt; repeat the forcemeat, salmon, and seasoning until the pie is filled; it must then be covered with paste, ornamented, egged over, and baked for about an hour and a quarter to an hour and a half, according to its size and contents. Any of the following sauces may be served separately in a sauce-boat :—maître d’hôtel, Italian, ravigotte, Béchamel, Allemande, or Normande.
No. 515.—FISH PIE A LA STE. UBSULA.
Salmon, trout, codfish, turbot, brill, haddocks, mackerel, &c.,—and indeed any kind of fish tolerably free from small bones, are adapted to this purpose. Whichever fish is intended for the pie should be freed from skin and bone, and cut into large scollops. A mould should be lined with Brioche paste, No. 737, a thin layer of Béchamel sauce, No. 16, spread over the bottom, and over this place a close layer of scollops of fish ; season with chopped mushrooms, parsley and shallot, fillets of anchovies, capers, nutmeg, pepper and salt, and slices of hard-boiled eggs ; repeat the sauce, fish, &c., until the pie is filled up ; cover it in the usual manner; bake it for about an hour and a half, and serve. From two to three pounds of fish is the quantity supposed to be used in reference to the foregoing instructions.
No. 516.—POTATO PIE.
Slice up three onions and put them in a stew pan with four ounces of butter, and a dozen potatoes; add a quart of water, pepper and salt; put the lid on, and set the whole to stew on a rather brisk fire for about half an hour ; by this time the potatoes will be done, and the water sufficiently reduced to furnish only enough for the pie ; this stew must be piled up in an earthen pie-dish, covered with potato crust as directed in No. 502, baked for about half an hour, and served.
Note.—Any kind of fish, or shellfish, may be added but when fish is used for a potato pie, it should be freed from bone and skin, and simmered with a little butter, pepper and salt, and when done, placed in neat rows on the top of the potato stew previously to the pie being covered in. In this case the pie will require an extra quarter of an hour’s baking.
No. 517—LEEK FLAMMISH.
Cut up a dozen leeks (previously washed clean and free from grit) into pieces an inch long ; place these in a basin with half a pint of good thick cream, season with nutmeg, pepper and salt, and mix all well together. Prepare a pound of short paste. No. 756 ; divide it into four equal parts, mould these into halls, roll them out to the size and shape of pudding—plates, and place them on a baking-dish or tin ; with a paste-brush dipped in water wet all round the edges of the paste, fill the centre of each flat with enough of the prepared leeks to fill the flammish—when, by gathering up the sides of the paste, each flat assumes the form of a puckered purse; this must be secured by fastening the plaits together with a wetted small circular piece of paste gently pressed upon their centre. Bake for half an hour.
The text presented here is derived directly from Francatelli's book and redacted specifically for this website. Please do not copy or use the content of these pages without first gaining permission.
Francatelli's Chapter XI: Meat Pies and Puddings.
CHAPTER XI.
MEAT PIES AND PUDDINGS.
CUT a chicken into small members; cover the bottom of a pie-dish with small thin collops of veal and ham, placed alternately; season with chopped mushrooms, shalot, and parsley, pepper and salt; then add a little white sauce, stock, or water ; next place the pieces of chicken in neat order, add a little more of the seasoning, and the yolks of four or six hard-boiled eggs ; mask all over with a little more sauce, cover with puff-paste, egg over, and ornament the top, and bake the pie for about an hour and a quarter.
Line the bottom of a pie-dish with small collops of lean rump-steak previously fried brown ; upon this place the halves of four pigeons, also fried ; season with chopped mushrooms, parsley, and shalot, pepper and salt ; pour half a pint of sauce, or gravy, or water, and a little catsup into the pan the meat has been fried in, to detach the glaze, and pour this over the pigeons, &c., in the dish ; add the yolks of six hard-boiled eggs, or some plovers' eggs when in season ; cover with puff-paste in the usual way ; bake the pie in a moderate oven for about an hour and a quarter.
Pick and draw two or three young grouse ; cut off the wings and legs ' tuck the drumsticks in through a slit made under the thigh ; singe the birds over a charcoal flame : split them in halves; season and fry the with a bit of butter until half done ' and, simultaneously with this part of the operation, prepare also some collops of beef ; season, fry, and place them at the bottom of a pie-dish ; add chopped mushrooms, parsley and shalots, and a tablespoonful of Crosse and Blackwell's Oude sauce ; place the fried halves of grouse in neat order on this ; add a little more seasoning, and some hard-boiled yolks of eggs ; moisten with sufficient sauce, gravy, or water, and a little salt, to reach up to the sides of the pie-dis; cover with puff-paste, and bake for about one hour and a quarter.
Truss loose, singe, and divide into halves three young partridges, season and fry them with a bit of butter ; line the pie-dish with thin collops of veal, and half-boiled bacon ; season with chopped mushrooms, and parsley, pepper and salt ; pour a gill of onion sauce over the veal &c. ; then place neatly the halves of partridges, repeat the seasoning, and the onion sauce ; add some hard-boiled yolks of eggs cover with paste ; bake for about one hour and a quarter, and pour in a little good gravy just before sending to table.
Procure tow sets of goose giblets (ready cleaned if possible ; parboil them in water with a little salt for about six minutes, and then wash and drain them to cool on a sieve. Next, place the giblets in a stewpan with carrots, celery, onion stuck with six cloves, garnished bouquet of parsley, thyme, marjoram, basil and spring-onions, and a few peppercorns; moisten with sufficient stock or water, and a little catsup, and stew the giblets very gently over a slow fire for about an hour and a half to two hours, the time required to cook them depending upon the age of the geese they are cut from. When the giblets are done, drain them on a sieve, wash and cut them in pieces measuring about two inches, livers and gizzards smaller; place these in a pie-dish already lined with seasoned beef-collops ; with the stock from the giblets make some sauce, well boiled and freed from all grease and impurities, and boiled down to a proper consistency ; pour it to the pie; add hard yolks of eggs ; cover with paste ; bake for one hour and a quarter, and serve.
Cut up about two pounds of rumpsteak in collops the size of a teacup; trim away unnecessary fat and sinew without waste ; season with pepper and salt ; fry them brown on both sides with a little better than an ounce of butter; shake in two tablespoonfuls of flour ; add two dozen fresh-opened oysters and their liquor, a little Harvey, and chopped onion ; shake round gently over the fire, allowing all to simmer together for five minutes ; arrange the collops of beef, &c., neatly in the pie-dish ; add the sauce and a few cooked new potatoes ; cover with paste ; bake for one hour, and serve.
Cut up a pound and a half of veal-cutlet into collops twice the size of a crown-piece; and prepare also in the same manner about half a pound of ham or streaky bacon. Next, chop a few mushrooms, some parsley and shalot, and fry these with an ounce of butter in a small stewpan : season with pepper and salt; add a little catsup or Harvey, a good tablespoonful of flour and half a pint of gravy or water ; stir this sauce over the fire until it boils, then add the juice of half a lemon, and use it to mix with the veal and ham, as they are placed in alternate layers in the pie-dish ; place hard-boiled yolks of eggs on the surface, cover with puff-paste, bake for an hour and a quarter, and when the pie is done, pour in a little gravy, and serve.
Trim a neck of mutton as if it was intended for cutlets, remove the superfluous fat ; separate the neck part into thick cutlets without trimming them wastefully ; divide the short ribs and scrag-end into equal-sized pieces of about two inches square ; highly season these with pepper and salt, place them in a stew pan with enough water to cover the meat, and set it to stew for half an hour over a rather slow fire : the gravy must now be strained from the meat, freed from grease, poured again to the meat ; add thereto six onions and eight potatoes, put the lid on the stewpan, and set the whole to stew gently for another half hour ; at the expiration of this time, arrange the cutlets, &c., neatly round the pie-dish ; lift the potatoes and onions into the centre without smashing them ; boil down the gravy to the quantity required to fill up the pie ; sprinkle a couple of dozen of oysters over the surface ; cover the pie with potato-paste, egg it over, bake it for an hour, and serve a sauce-boat of gravy separately.
Note.—The potato-paste here alluded to is made an follows :—bake a dozen large potatoes, and when done, and just out of the oven, immediately rub their pulp through a clean wire sieve; put this into a stewpan with two ounces of butter, four yolks of eggs, nutmeg, pepper and salt ; stir the paste over the fire until it ceases to adhere to the sides of the stewpan, and then roll it out on the slab with flour ;—and remember that: inasmuch as this kind of paste possesses but little elasticity, it must be handled with care, and when rolled out to the size and in the form of the dish which has to be covered with it, the cover should be divided into two or four parts (according to the size of the pie); by this contrivance, it will be more easily adjusted on the top, by gently pressing the joints together with the flat part of the thumb; parts of the paste should be used to decorate the surface of the pie in the usual way.
Note.—This paste serves also for potato croquets.
The snipes shot in Ireland are the finest flavoured known, and are or were prepared in a very simple yet excellent fashion, which renders them a great delicacy for the breakfast-table. In order to enable you to indulge in this delectable bonne-bouche, I will at once furnish you with the necessary instructions to solve the mystery and gratify your longing.
The snipes intended to be used for this purpose must be perfectly fresh. After being lucked, their legs and wings are to be cut off ; merely remove the gizzard with the point of a knife, leaving all the inside or trail undisturbed ; the snipes should be split in halves, and placed on a dish. Next, take what is called an earthen-ware oval pie-pan, such as is commonly used for potting meats. &c. ; line the bottom and sides of this with very thin layers of fat bacon ; arrange therein the prepared snipes in neat rows; season between each row with coarsely ground black pepper and salt ; and when the pan is nearly filled, pour in sufficient clarified fresh butter to cover the surface of the snipes ; put the lid of the pan on; lute all round the edge of the pan with slack flour-and-water paste to confine the steam which arises from the snipes, &c., while baking, and which, by being thus prevented from escaping entirely, not only improves the flavour of the pie by condensation, but also tends to dissolve the bones sufficiently to render them edible : there being a hole on the top of the lid, it acts as a safety-valve. These pies must be baked in an oven of moderate heat, and are intended to be eaten when quite cold only.
Note.—Woodcocks, fieldfares, plovers, young pheasants, partridges, or grouse, larks, wheatears, and especially ortolains and becaficos, are most excellent when dressed as indicated in this number.
The birds best calculated to suit this purpose consist of fieldfares, blackbirds, and larks : these birds are only fit for table during the months of November, December, January ; and are in the greatest perfection during frosty weather. The birds intended for this pie should be stuffed with the following preparation: viz.,—soak the crumbs of a French roll in a little milk ; put it in a stewpan with two ounces of butter, a little grated lemon-peel, shalot, chopped parsley, nutmeg, pepper and salt, a pinch of aromatic herbs, and three yolks of eggs ; stir this over the fire until it becomes a compact paste ; and use it to fill the insides of the birds intended for the pie. You then line the bottom of a pie-dish with fried collops of beef, and place thereon the birds in neat order ; pour some fine-herbs over these ; add hard-boiled yolks of eggs ; cover with puff paste ; bake the pie for an hour and a quarter and serve.
Cut about one pound of veal into small collops, and fry them with an equal proportion of collops of ham or bacon and place them at the bottom of a pie-dish ; then fry two dozen larks from which the gizzard only has been removed, by picking it out from under the thigh with the point of a knife; season with chopped parsly, truffle, and shallot, pepper and salt, some mushroom catsup, button mushrooms, and a large tablespoon of flour; moisten with half a pint of gravy or water, stir over the tire until it boils, and then add the whole to the collops of veal, &c., contained in the pie-dish ; cover with puff-paste, bake for an hour and a quarter and serve.
Line the pudding-basin with suet-paste, which has been previously rolled out to the thickness of about a quarter of an inch, and fill the pudding with beef collops prepared as indicated in No. 500 ; wet round the edge of the paste with water ; fasten a cover of the same paste all round, by pressing equally on the edges with the foreigner and thumb ; twist the edge in with a twirl; make a small hole in the centre ; steam or boil the pudding for two hours and a half; turn it out of the basin with care, and serve.
Whether collops or cutlets of mutton are used for this purpose, they must be fried in a saucepan with an ounce of butter, seasoned with chopped mushrooms, parsley, and shallot, pepper and salt ; and when browned on both sides without being done through, must be sprinkled over with a large spoonful of flour, moistened with, half a pint of gravy, or water with mushroom catsup, and after being allowed to simmer over the fire for three minutes, are to be placed in neat order in the pudding-basin already lined with a suet-crust; and some thick slices of potatoes which have been scarcely half done, are to be placed in between the collops of mutton ; pour the sauce over all, cover in with suet paste as in No. 506, steam or boil for two hours and a half and serve.
Cut about a pound and a half of ox-veal, sheep, or lamb kidneys, into rather thin collops, and put them in a basin : season with fineherbs sauce, No. 74, and a dessert-spoonful of Crosse and Blackwell’s Oude sauce ; mix together ;—and, having lined a pudding-basin with suet-paste in the usual manner, fill it with the prepared kidneys, cover the pudding with a circular piece of paste fastened all round, steam or boil it for an hour and a half, and serve.
Either fieldfares, jackanapes, larks, or wheatears may be used for this purpose :—take about a pound of any one kind of the above-named birds, picked, singed, and the gizzards removed, and fry them with an ounce of butter, pepper and salt—merely to brown-without scarcely half-cooking them ; add a ready prepared chipolata ragout, No. 123; simmer together for three minutes, and when cold, use this to fill a ready-lined basin ; finish in the usual way, and steam the pudding for an hour and a half.
Pluck, singe, and divide six fresh snipes in halves; remove the gizzards, and reserve the trail for use hereafter ; season the snipes with cayenne and lemon-juice, and a sprinkle of salt, and set them aside until wanted. Next, slice up a Portugal onion, and fry it with a bit of butter of a light colour ; throw in a good tablespoonful of flour, chopped mushrooms, parsley, a suspicion of garlic on the point of a knife, grated nutmeg, and a pinch of aromatic herbs, No. 671 ; moisten with half a pint of wine ; stir the whole over the fire to boil for about ten minutes, then add the trail, and rub this through a tammy ; meanwhile, a pudding-basin should be lined with a with a thin crust of suet-paste the snipes and sauce, and some scollops of truffles arranged neatly therein ; cover it with paste ; steam for an hour and a half ; turn it out with care, and serve.
Procure a pound of Cambridge sausages, and twist each into three balls ; put these into boiling water merely to scald them sufficiently so as to remove the skin. Line a pudding-basin with suet-paste, fill it with the sausages, and pour the following preparation over them: viz.,—chop an onion and two sage-leaves, and fry them with a bit of butter in a small stew pan, add a dessert-spoonful of flour and an equal proportion of Crosse and Blackwell’s Oude sauce, and a little salt, stir it over the fire until it boils ; and having poured it on the sausages, cover the pudding with paste in the usual way; steam it for an hour and a half, and serve.
Prepare the following ingredients: viz.,—about a pound and a half of veal collops, three-quarters of a pound of thin slices of ham, or of streaky bacon (previnously parboiled for ten minutes to remove its saltness), four eggs boiled hard. Some aspic jelly, No. 7, must have been prepared with a pound of knuckle of veal, the trimmings from the collops, and a calfʼs foot or cow heel ; or, failing these, four ounces of gelatine may be used instead. Next take an earthen pie-pan—such as is commonly used for potting meats, &c.; spread or pour a layer of the aspic jelly at the bottom, of about the sixteenth of an inch deep, and upon this place in neat circles a layer of veal collops; season with pepper and salt, chopped parsley and shallot, then put a layer of ham, and upon this a layer of hard eggs cut in neat slices; repeat the seasoning and aspic jelly, and so on, until the whole of the ingredients are used up. Cover the pie-pan or basin with stiff flour-and-water paste; bake it on a baking-sheet containing a little water to prevent the possibility of the aspic jelly contained in the cake from being dried up (an accident which might occur if the oven happen to be too hot). Bake the pie or cake for an hour and a quarter in moderate heat, and when done, set it in a cold place until the next day; it may then be turned out whole on a dish, garnished with fresh parsley, and served for breakfast or luncheon.
Remove all the flesh from a hare in as large pieces as possible,—that is, take out the fillets, remove the shoulders and hind quarters, and bone them; cut all the meat into collops about a quarter of an inch thick, and set them aside on a plate: with the carcass and trimmings, and a cow-heel or calf’s-foot, make some well seasoned aspic jelly, No. 7 ; prepare also some thin slices of ham and hard eggs, seasoning, &c., as indicated for veal cake, using for game cakes the addition of aromatic seasoning, No. 671. In all respects prepare and finish the hare cake as directed in No. 512.
Note.—These cakes are excellent, and inexpensive in their preparation, and may be varied by using pork, beef, mutton, venison, poultry, or any kind of game in their composition, instead of veal or hare.
For this purpose it is necessary to prepare some forcemeat of whiting or haddock, No. 186. Line a plain oblong tin mould with short-paste, No. 756; spread a layer of force meat at the bottom, about an inch thick; cover this with a slice of salmon and fillets of anchovies; season with chopped parsley and spring-onions, and a little pepper and salt; repeat the forcemeat, salmon, and seasoning until the pie is filled; it must then be covered with paste, ornamented, egged over, and baked for about an hour and a quarter to an hour and a half, according to its size and contents. Any of the following sauces may be served separately in a sauce-boat :—maître d’hôtel, Italian, ravigotte, Béchamel, Allemande, or Normande.
Salmon, trout, codfish, turbot, brill, haddocks, mackerel, &c.,—and indeed any kind of fish tolerably free from small bones, are adapted to this purpose. Whichever fish is intended for the pie should be freed from skin and bone, and cut into large scollops. A mould should be lined with Brioche paste, No. 737, a thin layer of Béchamel sauce, No. 16, spread over the bottom, and over this place a close layer of scollops of fish ; season with chopped mushrooms, parsley and shallot, fillets of anchovies, capers, nutmeg, pepper and salt, and slices of hard-boiled eggs ; repeat the sauce, fish, &c., until the pie is filled up ; cover it in the usual manner; bake it for about an hour and a half, and serve. From two to three pounds of fish is the quantity supposed to be used in reference to the foregoing instructions.
Slice up three onions and put them in a stew pan with four ounces of butter, and a dozen potatoes; add a quart of water, pepper and salt; put the lid on, and set the whole to stew on a rather brisk fire for about half an hour ; by this time the potatoes will be done, and the water sufficiently reduced to furnish only enough for the pie ; this stew must be piled up in an earthen pie-dish, covered with potato crust as directed in No. 502, baked for about half an hour, and served.
Note.—Any kind of fish, or shellfish, may be added but when fish is used for a potato pie, it should be freed from bone and skin, and simmered with a little butter, pepper and salt, and when done, placed in neat rows on the top of the potato stew previously to the pie being covered in. In this case the pie will require an extra quarter of an hour’s baking.
Cut up a dozen leeks (previously washed clean and free from grit) into pieces an inch long ; place these in a basin with half a pint of good thick cream, season with nutmeg, pepper and salt, and mix all well together. Prepare a pound of short paste. No. 756 ; divide it into four equal parts, mould these into halls, roll them out to the size and shape of pudding—plates, and place them on a baking-dish or tin ; with a paste-brush dipped in water wet all round the edges of the paste, fill the centre of each flat with enough of the prepared leeks to fill the flammish—when, by gathering up the sides of the paste, each flat assumes the form of a puckered purse; this must be secured by fastening the plaits together with a wetted small circular piece of paste gently pressed upon their centre. Bake for half an hour.