924. Lamb Pie

Make it of the loin, neck, or breast; the breast of house lamb is one of the most delicate things that can be eaten. It should be very lightly seasoned with pepper, and salt, the bone taken out but not the gristle, and a small quantity of jelly gravy put in hot, but the pie should not be cut till cold, put two spoonfuls of water before baking.

Grass lamb makes an excellent pie, and may either be boned or not, but not boned is perhaps the best; season it with pepper and salt, put two spoonfuls of water before baking, and as much gravy when it comes from the oven.

Note

Meat pies being fat, it is best to let out the gravy on one side, and put it in again by a funnel at the centre, and a little may be added free of fat.

929. Mutton Pie Mele: - Raised

Take the most meaty part of a leg of mutton, and mince with it any game, poultry, or even meat which may have been left from the previous dinner. Make a mince likewise of some ham, one pound of beef-suet, some fat bacon, truffles, pistachio nuts, the yolks of five eggs boiled hard, add cinnamon, mace, nutmeg, allspice, and pepper, some sweet herbs, and two glasses of brown brandy; put all into a good raised crust, cover it, and bake it in an oven heated to a moderate heat for five hours and a half. Serve cold.

930. Mutton Pie

Cut steaks from a neck or loin of mutton that has hung, beat them and remove some of the fat, season with salt and pepper and a little onion; put a little water at the bottom of the dish and a little paste on the edge, then cover with a moderately thick paste, or raise small pies, and break each bone in two to shorten it, season and cover it over, pinching the edge. When they come out of the oven pour into each a little second stock.

931. Partridge Or Pigeon Pie

Cover the bottom of your dish with slices of veal and bacon, chop some parsley, onion, and mushroom, and! if you have it, truffles; sprinkle it all over the veal. If your birds are boned, season the inside with the same, adding some fine bread crumbs, lay them on the veal, then cover the birds with slices of fat bacon, put in a few spoonfuls of good stock

932. Partridge Pie - Simple

Pick and singe four partridges, cut off the legs at the knee and give them a good seasoning of pepper, salt, chopped parsley, thyme, and mushrooms; lay at the bottom of the dish a veal cutlet and a slice of ham, and then put in the partridges, add half a pint of a good poultry consomme, line the edge of the dish with a puff paste, cover it with paste of the same kind, brush it over with egg and bake one hour.

933. A Perigord Pie

Make a forcemeat, chiefly of green truffles, a small quantity of sweetherbs, parsley, and shallots, and the liver of all game, and some fat livers, fat bacon a good quantity, a few bread crumbs, pepper and salt, and cayenne pepper, the flesh of wild or tame fowls. Lard the breast of pheasants, partridges, woodcocks, moor-game, or whatever birds you have, add a little more in your seasoning, make a good thick crust to hold all the above ingredients, or a dish will do; line the case with good fresh fat bacon, cover that with forcemeat, then put the different colours of game and fowl upon it with whole green, but pared truffles, then more forcemeat, and so on until full, but not press them down, let them lie lightly one on the other, or they may not all get sufficiently baked; at the top of all cover with good fat bacon, and over that a common paste crust. Bake it in a slow fire; it will take a long time to soak it well; before cold, add some good jellied stock made from the bones, etc.

If you wish for any birds whole in it, they must first be boned and filled with truffles and forcemeat, and kept in the middle, the rest all round them.