Beat the steak well, cut it up into neat pieces. Mix 1 tablespoonful flour, salt, and pepper on a plate, and dip each piece of meat into the mixture. Put the pieces in a stew-pan, cover with cold water, and simmer gently about ½ hour, then turn the meat and gravy into a pie-dish.
Put the flour into a large basin with half a saltspoonful of salt, rub the dripping into it, and add by degrees enough cold water to make a stiff paste. Flour a board, roll the pastry out rather larger than the pie-dish, about one-third of an inch thick, cut a strip off, wet the edge of the dish, place the strip round it, wet the strip, and press the rest of the pastry on to it, trimming off the rough edges with a sharp knife. Make a hole in the top of the pie to allow the steam to escape whilst baking; ornament the top and edges and brush over with beaten egg. Bake for ¾ hour, putting it into the hottest part of the oven for a few minutes, then remove it to a cooler part.
Beef Steak Pudding. Time—3½ hours.
1 lb. beef, 4 oz. suet, ¾ lb. flour, 1½ gill water, 1 teaspoonful baking-powder; salt and pepper to taste.
Put on a large saucepan of water to boil. Mix on a plate 1 dessertspoonful of flour, some pepper and salt. Beat the steak well, cut it into slices, dip each piece in the mixture, and roll it up. Put the flour, baking-powder, salt, and suet chopped fine, into a basin, and mix to a stiff paste with cold water. Cut off one-third for the top. Grease a basin well, line it with the paste, put in the meat with a little water or gravy, wet the edges, press the top on. Tie a pudding cloth, dipped in boiling water and dredged with flour, over the basin, place it in the saucepan of boiling water, and boil 2½ hours.
Stewed Shin of Beef (with Dumplings). Time—2½ hours.
1 lb. shin of beef, 2 onions, 2 carrots, 2 turnips, 2 tablespoonfuls flour, 2 oz. dripping or suet; pepper and salt to taste.
Prepare the carrots and turnips and boil them quickly 20 minutes in 1 quart of water. Cut the meat into pieces, fry a light brown in the dripping, then place the pieces in a saucepan. Peel and slice the onions, fry them in the same dripping, then stir in carefully 2 tablespoonfuls of flour to brown. Add the carrots and turnips to the meat, pour the water in which they were boiled into the frying-pan to brown; then add it with the onions, pepper and salt to the meat, etc, and stew slowly 1½ hour.
Dumplings.—½ lb. flour, 2 oz. dripping, 1 teaspoonful baking-powder, 1 teaspoonful salt.
Shred the fat fine and rub it into the flour with the baking-powder and salt. Mix with lukewarm water to a stiff paste. Cut into eight pieces, and roll lightly into dumplings on a floured board. Throw them into a saucepan of boiling water, and boil till they rise to the surface (20 minutes). Add them to the stew 10 minutes before serving.