The Gastronomic Regenerator: A Simplified and Entirely New System of Cookery / With Nearly Two Thousand Practical Receipts Suited to the Income of All Classes

by Alexis Soyer

MEAT PIES AND PUDDINGS.

No. 226. Rump Steak Pie. Procure two pounds of rump-steak, which cut into thinnish slices, season well with pepper and salt, dip each piece into flour, and lay them in a small pie-dish, finishing the top in form of a dome; add a wineglassful of water, and cover with three quarters of a pound of half puff paste (page 480), egg over with a paste-brush, and bake rather better than an hour in a moderate oven; serve either hot or cold.

No. 227. Mutton Pie. Procure the chumps from three loins of mutton, which cut into moderate slices, put a layer of them at the bottom of your dish, season well with pepper, salt, chopped parsley, and eschalot, over which put a layer of thin slices of raw potatoes, then the meat, and seasoning again, proceeding thus, finishing in a dome; add a wineglassful of water, cover with paste, and bake as in the last.

No. 228. Lamb Pie. Cut a small loin of lamb into thin chops, which lightly season, lay them in your dish with a few slices of new potatoes, building them up in the form of a dome; moisten with water, cover with paste, and bake as before.

The proper way to cover these pies is to wet the edge of the dish, round which put a band of common paste, pressing it lightly on, wetting the top, and joining the paste with which the pie is covered to it.

Pies, as I have previously observed, may also be made from the remains of any joints, first hashing the meat from them, which cut into large slices and well season; when quite cold, fill your pie-dish, building it in a dome, two inches above the rim of your dish; place a bay-leaf over, cover with paste, not, however, too thickly, and bake in a hot oven.

Any kind of meat, game, or poultry remaining may be hashed and converted into a pie, as above, without much trouble, thus making a very excellent dish to serve to table. Or the remains of any description of meats may be thus dressed: lay a few slices of streaked uncooked bacon at the bottom of a pie-dish, over which put layers of the meat, seasoning well between, leaving a space between the meat and the dish all round, and not building it above the edge of the dish; then have some potatoes prepared as follows: put about a quarter of a pound of potatoes, well mashed, into a basin, to which add three eggs, a spoonful of chopped parsley, a little grated nutmeg, pepper, salt, and half a pint of milk; mix well, strain through a colander, pour over the meat in the dish, bake half an hour in a warm oven, and serve very hot.

No. 229. Beef Steak Pudding. At home I can frequently make a very excellent dinner from a meat pudding, made as follows:

Put one pound of flour upon a pastry slab, in the centre of which form a well, in which put half a pound of beef or mutton suet, whichever is most convenient, add a teaspoonful of salt, and mix the whole, with water, into a stiffish paste, adding more flour to detach the paste from the slab, and make it dry to the touch; then slightly butter the interior of a round-bottomed basin, of the size you may require, which line with two thirds of the paste, rolled to the thickness of half an inch; you have previously cut two pounds of rump-steak into slices, the thickness of two five-shilling pieces, and an large as the palm of your hand, with a certain quantity of fat attached, or if no fat, add a few pieces separately, dip each piece in flour, and cover the bottom of your basin, over which sprinkle some pepper, salt, chopped parsley, and eschalots (which you have previously mixed upon a plate in the following proportions: two teaspoonfuls of salt, half ditto of black pepper, two of chopped parsley, and one or two of chopped onions or eschalots), then more meat, and seasoning alternately until the pudding is filled, add a wineglassful or two of water, lay a bay-leaf upon the top, wet the edges of the paste, the remainder of which roll to the same thickness, with which form a lid, closing it carefully at the edges; have ready boiling in a stewpan upon the fire a gallon of water, in which stand your pudding, having previously well wrapped it up in a cloth, and let boil continually for three hours, now and then adding a little more water to keep up the quantity; when done, untie the cloth, from which take the basin, pass your knife carefully round between the pudding and the basin, and turn over upon a dish, lifting the basin carefully, and you will have an excellent pudding, not one drop of gravy escaping until you have dug in your spoon, which will cause it to eat much more delicate than by breaking the pudding on purpose to fill the dish with gravy when going to table, particularly if soup and fish are served before, and the pudding is kept half an hour waiting, the top pieces would then eat very dry and indigestible, being deprived of their succulence. At home I never carve such a pudding with a spoon, but lightly cut the crust with a knife, cutting along the top instead of down, and laying a piece of crust upon each plate, taking the meat and gravy from the centre with a spoon, thus leaving the bottom until the last, which, if any remain, is excellent cold.[27]

The above may also be either steamed or baked, in which case it will not require to be tied in a cloth; to steam it, place a quart of water in a middling-sized stewpan, and when boiling place in your pudding, cover the stewpan down close, and draw it to the corner of the fire, replenishing occasionally with more water; the pudding will require the same time cooking, and is served as before.

If baked, the time required in cooking would of course greatly depend upon the heat of your oven, but it would require about two hours baking in a moderate oven, which is the best adapted. The pudding, when baked, may be kept entirely to be eaten cold. Should the onion or bay-leaf be objectionable to some, they may of course be omitted. Observe, that by shaking the pudding gently, previous to turning it out upon your dish, you will mix the gravy with the flour upon the meat, thus forming, when the pudding is cut, a thinnish sauce, without having a greasy appearance.

This very long and minute receipt will probably surprise many, but by thus entering into it, I have given at least ten receipts in one, as I make all other savoury puddings precisely the same; the following sorts most frequently. I sometimes introduce one or two mutton kidneys in a steak pudding, which, although a very old custom, is nevertheless a very good one. Mutton pudding is also very excellent, especially if made from the meat cut from the chumps of the loins, and made similar to the beef-steak puddings, not, however, requiring quite so long a time to boil. Short mutton cutlets, cut without showing the bones, with slices of raw potatoes between, also make very excellent puddings, as also do cutlets of lamb, but in either case requiring an hour less time to cook. I have also frequently made very good puddings from veal, rabbits, poultry, and game, all of which are very acceptable for a change. Venison pudding is also very beautiful. I consider it a pity so few people make any experiments in cookery, which, like other arts, is almost inexhaustible. Some people who have partaken of some of these puddings, previous to their being sent to table, have said they were sure they would not be approved of; but to my great satisfaction they have been totally deceived.

For the veal pudding I cut slices (from any part of the leg) about the same size as the beef for steak puddings, and put them into a sauté-pan, over the bottom of which I have rubbed an ounce of butter, seasoning them with a little pepper and salt, adding a little thyme, and a couple of bay-leaves; about half cook, and leave them in the pan until quite cold, then dip each piece in flour, lay them in the basin with a few slices of streaked bacon, finish the pudding, and boil it two hours. For young rabbits and fowls I proceed the same, and cook the pudding the same time; but to the last two I frequently add a spoonful of currie-powder to make it palatable. For venison, I previously stew it well, except I have left the remainder of a haunch, which I convert into a hash, making the pudding of it when cold; this pudding will require very little more than an hour boiling.

I frequently also make puddings of various kinds of fish, of which one made from the fillets of mackerel is very excellent, the fillets cut into good slices, rather highly seasoned, and laid lightly in the pudding; it will require an hour and a half boiling, and must be eaten very hot to be well appreciated. Eels also make a good pudding, by cutting them into pieces an inch and a half in length slantwise, and blanching them ten minutes in boiling water, to extract the oil, previous to putting them in your pudding, before making which dip each piece of eel in flour.