Pains de Gibier (Pains of Game).—This means, loaves of game. It is a terrine made with any kind of game, of one or of several kinds, with the exception that birds are boned and filled (see Directions for Boning), before placing them in the terreen; also, before covering the terreen, place a piece of buttered paper all around, so as to have it as nearly air-tight as possible when covered. Bake as above, and as soon as out of the oven remove the cover; put a piece of tin, sheet-iron, or wood on the top, large enough to cover the meat, but not the border of the terreen. Place some weight on it in order to press the meat down, and leave thus over night. The weight and piece of tin are removed, the terreen is wiped clean, the cover placed on it, and it is then served, or served on a dish. It keeps very well in winter time, and many are imported from Europe, especially those made like the following:
Another.—Cut four ounces of boiled beef-tongue and one pound of truffles in large dice. Put about two ounces of salt pork in a frying-pan on the fire, and when fried, add about six ounces of the flesh of prairie-hen, cut in pieces, four prairie-hens' and four chicken livers, eight in all; stir, and when turning rather brown, add also chopped parsley, salt, and pepper; stir again for two or three minutes, and take off. Put in a mortar one pound of flesh of prairie-hen, baked and chopped; one pound and a quarter of fat salt pork, and about four ounces of panade. Pound the whole well and put it in a large bowl. Then pound well also the six ounces of prairie-hen flesh and eight livers with twelve yolks of eggs and a wine-glass of Madeira wine, and put in the bowl also. Add to it the tongue and truffles, and mix the whole well, adding game-gravy, or meat-gravy if more handy, about a gill of it, season to taste with salt, pepper, nutmeg, and cloves, grated. Bay-leaf and thyme, well pounded, may also be used, if liked. After being pounded, the whole may be mashed through a sieve, but it is really not necessary. Then place the mixture in one, two, or three terrines, cook, and serve as above.
Another.—Take the flesh of six prairie-hens when cooked, and pound it well. Pound also eight livers, fried; four of prairie-hens and four of chickens; put flesh and livers in a saucepan with gravy, set on a slow fire, and as soon as warm, add to it, little by little, and stirring continually, about three-fourths of its volume of good butter. When all the butter is in, take from the fire, mix one pound of truffles cut in dice with it; put the mixture in one or more terrines; cover, bake, and serve as above.
Terrines and pains are sometimes made with poultry, and in the same way as those of game.
Fish-Pies.—These are made in the same way as meat-pies, using cooked fish instead of meat, but putting fish only inside of the paste. When done it is filled with coulis of fish instead of jelly. Serve as a meat-pie. The fish must be free from bones.
Fruit-Pies.—Pies are made with paste and fruit or vegetables. The under-paste may be made of trimmings of puff-paste, or of the paste hereafter described, but the top is always made of puff-paste. The paste on the top may cover the fruit entirely, or it may be only strips running across, according to taste and fancy. The fruit is used raw or cooked previously, according to kind; if it requires longer cooking than the paste, or if it requires to be mixed or mashed, it must be cooked previously.
Under-Paste.—Put one pound of flour on the paste-board with six ounces of butter in the middle of it; also two ounces of sugar, two eggs, and cold water enough to make an ordinary paste, neither too stiff nor too soft. Roll the paste down to a thickness of one-eighth of an inch, spread it on a tin dish or bakepan, buttered slightly, raise the borders a little or place a strip of puff-paste all around it; put the fruit in the middle, then cover with a thin piece of puff-paste or place strips of it only over the fruit, and bake in a rather quick oven, about 390 degrees Fahr. The strips of paste are cut with a paste-cutter (caster-like) and placed across; one strip may also be placed all around. When trimmings of puff-paste are used for the under-paste, when placed on the tin or bake-pan, prick it in about a dozen places with a fork to prevent it from rising. To place a border around the paste, you have only to cut a strip of it about half an inch wide, wet the paste with water by means of a brush, that is, the edge or place where you are going to put it; then take hold of the strip, place one end of it on the paste and run it all around till you meet the end, cut it off and stick the two ends together by wetting them also. When the border is placed, then put the fruit in the middle; if the fruit is not cooked, it must be mixed with sugar and essence, or cinnamon, or nutmeg, according to kind, if cooked, that is, stewed, or in compote or in jelly, it is sweetened and flavored.
The following are used to make pies: apples, apricots, cherries, currants, blackberries, cranberries, gooseberries, grapes, mulberries, oranges, peaches, pears, pine-apples, plums, quinces, raspberries, lemon, rhubarb, prunes, whortleberries, etc. It is better to stone the fruit before using it. Pies are decorated in the three following ways:
1. When you use cooked fruit, put a thin layer of rice (prepared as for croquettes) on the paste, then a layer of stewed fruit; then the strips over, and bake. Two or three layers of each may be used.