1230. Sea Pie.

Make a thick pudding crust, line a dish with it, or what is better, a cake-tin; put a layer of sliced onions, then a layer of salt beef cut in slices, a layer of sliced potatoes, a layer of pork, and another of onions; strew pepper over all, cover with a crust, and tie down tightly with a cloth previously dipped in boiling water and floured.

Boil for two hours, and serve hot in a dish.

1231. Rump-Steak Pie.

Cut three pounds of rump-steak (that has been kept till tender) into pieces half as big as your hand, trim off all the skin, sinews, and every part which has not indisputable pretensions to be eaten, and beat them with a chopper. Chop very fine half a dozen shalots, and add to them half an ounce of pepper and salt mixed; strew some of the seasoning at the bottom of the dish, then a layer of steak, then some more of the seasoning, and so on till the dish is full; add half a gill of mushroom ketchup, and the same quant.i.ty of gravy, or red wine; cover it as in the preceding receipt, and bake it two hours. Large oysters, parboiled, bearded, and laid alternately with the steaks--their liquor reduced and subst.i.tuted instead of the ketchup and wine, will impart a delicious flavour to the pie.

1232. Raised Pies.

Put two pounds and a half of flour on the pasteboard,--and set on the fire, in a saucepan, three quarters of a pint of water, and half a pound of good lard. When the water boils, make a hole in the middle of the flour, pour in the water and lard by degrees, gently incorporating the flour with a spoon, and when it is well mixed, knead it with your hands till it becomes stiff; dredge a little flour to prevent it sticking to the board, or you cannot make it look smooth. Roll the dough with your hands--the rolling-pin must not be used--to about the thickness of a quart pot; leave a little for the covers, and cut the remainder into six circular discs. Take each of these pieces in succession; put one hand in the middle, and keep the other close on the outside till you have worked it either into an oval or a round shape.

Have your meat ready cut, and seasoned with pepper and salt; if pork, cut it in small slices--the griskin is the best for pasties: if you use mutton, cut it in very neat cutlets, and put them in the pies as you make them; roll out the covers with the rolling-pin, and cut them to the size of the pies, wet them round the edge, put them on the pie.

Then press the paste of each pie and its cover together with the thumb and finger, and lastly, nick the edge all round with the back of a knife, and bake them an hour and a half.

[OBSERVATION IS THE BEST TEACHER.]

1233. Wild Duck, To Dress.

The birds are roasted like common ducks, but without stuffing, and with a rather less allowance of time for cooking. For example, a full-sized duck will take from three-quarters of an hour to an hour in roasting, but a wild duck will take from forty to fifty minutes.

Before carving the knife should be drawn longitudinally along the breast, and upon these a little cayenne pepper must be sprinkled, and a lemon squeezed. They require a good made gravy, as described below.

They are excellent half roasted and hashed in a good gravy made as follows:

1234. Sauce for Wild Duck.

Simmer a teacupful of port wine, the same quant.i.ty of good gravy, a small shalot, with pepper, nutmeg, mace, and salt to taste, for about ten minutes; put in a bit of b.u.t.ter and flour; give it all one boil, and pour it over the birds, or serve in a sauce tureen.

1235. Widgeon and Teal, To Dress.

These birds may be roasted or half roasted and baked, according to the directions given for wild duck, and served up with, a sauce or gravy made in precisely the same way. A widgeon will take as long to roast as a wild duck, but a teal, being a smaller bird, will take only from twenty to thirty minutes.

1236. Roast Duck.

Put into the body of the bird a seasoning of parboiled onions mixed with finely-chopped sage, salt, pepper, and a slice of b.u.t.ter. Place it before a brisk fire, but not sufficiently near to be scorched; baste it constantly, and when the breast is well plumped, and the steam from it draws towards the fire, dish and serve it quickly, with a little good brown gravy poured round them, and also some in a gravy tureen. Young ducks will take about half an hour to roast; full-sized ones from three-quarters of an hour to an hour.

1237 Roast Partridge.

Let the bird hang as long as it can be kept without being offensive.

Pick it carefully, and singe it; wipe the inside thoroughly with a clean cloth, truss it with the head turned under the wing and the legs drawn close together, but not crossed. Flour partridges prepared in this manner when first laid to the fire, and baste them plentifully with b.u.t.ter. Serve them with bread sauce and good brown gravy.

1238. Partridge Pudding.

Skin a brace of well-kept partridges, and cut them into pieces; line a deep basin with suet crust, and lay in the pieces, which should be rather highly seasoned with white pepper and cayenne, and moderately with salt. Pour in water for the gravy, close the pudding carefully, and boil it for three hours or three hours and a half. When mushrooms are plentiful, put a layer of b.u.t.tons or small mushrooms, cleaned as for pickling, alternately with a layer of partridge in filling tho pudding. The crust may he left untouched and merely emptied of its contents, where it is objected to, or a richer crust made with b.u.t.ter may be used instead of the ordinary suet crust.

1239. Roast Ptarmigan.

The ptarmigan, which is either a variety of grouse or grouse in its winter plumage, and black game, when roasted, are cooked in precisely the same manner as grouse.

1240. Roast Grouse.

Truss the birds in the same manner as pheasants, and set down before a brisk fire. When nearly ready--they will be done in from twenty to twenty-five minutes--baste well with b.u.t.ter and sprinkle with flour in order to froth them, and send to table with some good brown gravy and some fried bread crumbs and bread sauce. These accompaniments should be served in different sauce tureens.

[SMALL BEGINNINGS MAY LEAD TO LARGE ENDS.]

1241. To Truss and Roast a Pheasant.

The following method of trussing a pheasant--which applies equally to partridges, grouse, &c., and to fowls, guineafowls, &c.--is prescribed by Francatelli in his "Cook's Guide":

"Rub the scaly cuticle off the legs with a cloth; trim away the claws and spurs; cut off the neck close up to the back, leaving the skin of the breast entire; wipe the pheasant clean and truss it in the following manner, viz.:--Place the pheasant upon its breast, run a trussing needle and string through the left pinion (the wings being removed); then turn the bird over on its back, and place the thumb and forefinger of the left hand across the breast, holding the legs erect; thrust the needle through the middle joint of both thighs, draw it out and then pa.s.s it through the other pinion, and fasten the strings at the back; next pa.s.s the needle through the hollow of the back, just below the thighs, thrust it again through the legs and body and tie the strings tightly; this will give it an appearance of plumpness."

Roast and send to table in the same manner, and with the same accompaniments as directed for Roast Partridge (_par._ 1237.)

1242. Cold Partridge Pie.

Bone as many partridges as the size of pie to be made may require. Put a whole raw truffle, peeled, into each partridge, and fill up the remaining s.p.a.ce in each bird with good forcemeat. Make a raised crust; lay a few slices of veal in the bottom, and a thick layer of forcemeat; then the partridges, and four truffles to each partridge; then cover the partridges and truffles over with sheets of bacon, cover the pie in, and finish it. It will take four hours baking.

Cut two pounds of lean ham (if eight partridges are in the pie) into very thin slices, put it in a stewpan along with the bones and giblets of the partridges, and any other loose giblets that are at hand, an old fowl, a f.a.ggot of thyme and parsley, a little mace, and about twenty-four shalots: add about a pint of stock. Set the stewpan on a stove to simmer for half an hour, then put in three quarts of good stock; let it boil for two hours, then strain it off, and reduce the liquid to one pint; add sherry wine to it, and put aside till the pie is baked.

When the pie has been out of the oven for half an hour, boil the residue strained from the bones &c., of the partridges, and put it into the pie. Let it stand for twenty-four hours before it is eaten.--_Do not take, any of the fat from the pie, as that is what preserves it._ A pie made in this manner will be eatable for three months after it is cut; in short, it cannot spoil in any reasonable time. All cold pies are made in this manner. Either poultry or game, when put into a raised crust and intended not to be eaten until cold, should be boned, and the liquor that is to fill up the pie made from the bones, &c.

1243. Veal Pie.

Take some of the middle or scrag of a small neck; season it with pepper and salt, and, put to it a few pieces of lean bacon or ham. If a high seasoning is required, add mace, cayenne, and nutmeg to tho salt and pepper, and forcemeat and egg b.a.l.l.s, truffles, morels, mushrooms, sweetbreads cut into small bits, and c.o.c.ks' combs blanched, can form part of the materials, if liked, but the pie will be very good without them. Have a rich gravy to pour in after baking.

1244. Mutton Pie.

The following is a capital family dish:--Cut mutton into pieces about two inches square, and half an inch thick; mix pepper, pounded allspice, and salt together, dip the pieces in this; sprinkle stale bread-crumbs at the bottom of the dish; lay in the pieces, strewing the crumbs over each layer; put a piece of b.u.t.ter the size of a hen's egg at the top; add a winegla.s.sful of water, and cover in, and bake in a moderate oven rather better than an hour. Take an onion, chopped fine; a f.a.ggot of herbs; half an anchovy; and add to it a little beef stock or gravy; simmer for a quarter of an hour; raise the crust at one end, and pour in the liquor--not the thick part. (_See_ POTATO PIE. _par_, 1118).

[IF NONE ENDEAVOUR, THERE WOULD BE AN END TO DISCOVERY.]