Meat and Potato Croquettes.
1 cupful of cold meat, chopped fine.
1 cupful of cold mashed potatoes.
1 teaspoonful of salt.
1/4 teaspoonful of pepper.
1/2 cupful of milk.
2 tablespoonfuls of butter.
2 eggs.
Dried bread crumbs.
Fat for frying.
Mix the meat, potatoes, and seasoning. Put the milk and butter in a frying-pan, and when the liquid boils up put in the meat and potatoes, and cook for one minute. Beat one egg well and stir it into the hot mixture. Take from the fire immediately, and, after pouring out on a plate, set away to cool. When cold, shape into cylinders about three inches long, and bread and fry.
CROQUETTES READY FOR SERVING.
The second egg and the crumbs are for the breading.
Hominy or rice may be substituted for the potatoes.
Meat Pie.
Filling.
1-1/2 pints of cold meat.
1 pint of stock or water.
1 tablespoonful of butter.
1 teaspoonful of minced onion.
1 teaspoonful of minced carrot.
1-1/2 tablespoonfuls of flour.
1 teaspoonful of salt.
1/6 teaspoonful of pepper.
Crust.
1/2 pint of flour.
1 tablespoonful of butter.
1 tablespoonful of lard.
1 teaspoonful of sugar.
1/2 teaspoonful of salt.
1 teaspoonful of baking-powder.
1/2 gill of cold water.
Use any kind of cooked unsalted meat, and have it free from skin, bones, and fat. Put it in a stewpan. Put the vegetables and butter in a frying-pan, and cook for ten minutes. At the end of that time take the vegetables from the butter and put them with the meat. Into the butter remaining in the pan put half a tablespoonful of flour, and stir until smooth and frothy. Gradually add the stock or water, and stir until the sauce boils. Add this to the meat and vegetables, and place the saucepan on the fire. Mix the remaining tablespoonful of flour with four tablespoonfuls of cold water, and stir into the meat mixture. Add the seasonings, and cook for fifteen minutes. Turn this into a dish that will hold nearly two quarts, and set away to cool.
Now make the crust. Mix the salt, sugar, and baking-powder with the flour, and then rub through a sieve into a bowl. Add the butter and lard, and cut and mix through the flour, with a knife, until quite fine. Wet with the cold water, stirring all the time with the knife. Sprinkle the board lightly with flour, and turn out the paste upon it. Roll very thin; then fold and roll again into a thin sheet. Fold up, put in a tin pan, and set on the ice for an hour or more; or it may be used at once. Roll the paste into the shape of the top of the dish in which the pie is to be baked, only about an inch larger on all sides. Cut a small slit in the centre of the paste that the steam may escape. Cover the prepared meat with this paste, turning in the edges. Bake the pie in a moderate oven for one hour.
The bones and bits of gristle may be boiled in water to make a stock.