The best way of making all manner of baked Meats.
[ To make a Bisk or Batalia Pie.]
TAke six peeping Pigeons, and as many peeping small chickens, truss them to bake; then have six oxe pallets well boil’d and blancht, and cut in little pieces; then take six lamb-stones, and as many good veal sweet-breads cut in halves and parboil’d, twenty cocks-combs boil’d and blanch’d, the bottoms of four artichocks boiled and blanched, a quart of great oysters parboil’d and bearded, also the marrow of four bones seasoned with pepper, nutmeg, mace, and salt; fill the pye with the meat, and mingle some pistaches amongst it, cock-stones, knots, or yolks of hard eggs, and some butter, close it up and bake it (an hour and half will bake it) but before you set it in the oven, put into it a little fair water: Being baked pour out the butter, and liquor it with gravy, butter beaten up thick, slic’t lemon, and serve it up.
Or you may bake this bisk in a patty-pan or dish.
Sometimes use sparagus and interlarded bacon.
For the paste of this dish, take three quarts of flour, and three quarters of a pound of butter, boil the butter in fair water, and make up the paste hot and quick.
Otherways in the summer time, make the paste of cold butter; to three quarts of flour take a pound and a half of butter, and work it dry into the flour, with the yolks of four eggs and one white, then put a little water to it, and make it up into a stiff paste.
[ To bake Chickens or Pigeons.]
Take either six pigeon peepers or six chicken peepers, if big cut them in quarters, then take three sweet-breads of veal slic’t very thin, three sheeps tongues boil’d tender, blanched and slic’t, with as much veal, as much mutton,