Chapter XV.): their livers also may be put into them.

BEEF-STEAK PIE. From a couple to three pounds of rump-steak will be sufficient for a good family pie. It should be well kept though perfectly sweet, for in no form can tainted meat be more offensive than when it is enclosed in paste. Trim off the coarse skin, and part of the fat should there be much of it (many eaters dislike it altogether in pies, and when this is the case every morsel should be carefully cut away). If the beef should not appear very tender, it may be gently beaten with a paste-roller until the fibre is broken, then divided into slices half as large as the hand, and laid into a dish bordered with paste. It should be seasoned with salt and pepper, or cayenne, and sufficient water poured in to make the gravy, and keep the meat moist. Lay on the cover, and be careful always to brush the edge in every part with egg or cold water, then join it securely to the paste which is round the rim, trim both off close to the dish, pass the point of the knife through the middle of the cover, lay some slight roll or ornament of paste round it, and decorate the border of the pie in any of the usual modes, which are too common to require description. Send the pie to a well-heated, but not fierce oven for about an hour and twenty minutes. To make a richer beef-steak pie put bearded oysters in alternate layers with the meat, add their strained liquor to a little good gravy in which the beards may be simmered for a few minutes to give it further flavour, and make a light puff paste for the crust. Some caters like it seasoned with a small portion of minced onion or eschalot when the oysters are omitted. Mushrooms improve all meat-pies. Veal pies may be made by this receipt, or by the second of those which follow. Slices of lean ham, or parboiled ox-tongue, may be added to them. 1 to 1-1/2 hour. COMMON MUTTON PIE. A pound and a quarter of flour will make sufficient paste for a moderate-sized pie, and two pounds of mutton freed from the greater portion of the fat will fill it. Butter a dish and line it with about half the paste rolled thin; lay in the mutton evenly, and sprinkle over it three-quarters of an ounce of salt, and from half to a whole teaspoonful of pepper according to the taste; pour in cold water to within an inch of the brim. Roll the cover, which should be quite half an inch thick, to the size of the dish; wet the edges of the paste with cold water or white of egg, be careful to close them securely, cut them off close to the rim of the dish, stick the point of the knife through the centre, and bake the pie an hour and a quarter in a well-heated oven. Flour, 1-1/4 lb.; minced suet rather less than 1/2 lb.; or, butter, 4 oz., and very pure lard, 2 or 3 oz.; mutton, 2 lbs.; salt, 3/4 oz.; pepper, half to a whole teaspoonful; water, 1/4 pint: 1-1/4 hour. A GOOD MUTTON PIE. Lay a half-paste of short or of puff crust round a buttered dish, take the whole or part of a loin of mutton, strip off the fat entirely, and raise the flesh clear from the bones without dividing it, then slice it into cutlets of equal thickness, season them well with salt and pepper, or cayenne, and strew between the layers some finely-minced herbs mixed with two or three eschalots, when the flavour of these last is liked; or omit them, and roll quite thin some good forcemeat (which can be flavoured with a little minced eschalot at pleasure), and lay it between the cutlets: two or three mutton kidneys intermingled with the meat will greatly enrich the gravy; pour in a little cold water, roll the cover half an inch thick, or more should the crust be short, as it will not rise like puff paste, close the pie very securely, trim the edges even with the dish, ornament the pie according to the taste, make a hole in the centre, and bake it from an hour and a half to a couple of hours. The proportions of paste and meat may be ascertained by consulting the last receipt. Gravy made with part of the bones, quite cleared from fat, and left to become cold, may be used to fill the pie instead of water. RAISED PIES. [Illustration: Raised Pie. ] These may be made of any size, and with any kind of meat, poultry, or game, but the whole must be entirely free from bone. When the crust is not to be eaten, it is made simply with a few ounces of lard or butter dissolved in boiling water, with which the flour is to be mixed (with a spoon at first, as the heat would be too great for the hands, but afterwards with the fingers) to a smooth and firm paste. The French, who excel greatly in this form of pie,[117] use for it a good crust which they call a _pâté brisée_ (see page 347), and this is eaten usually with the meat which it contains. In either case the paste must be sufficiently stiff to retain its form perfectly after it is raised, as it will have no support to prevent its falling. The celebrated Monsieur Ude gives the following directions for moulding it to a proper shape without difficulty; and as inexperienced cooks generally find a little at first in giving a good appearance to these pies, we copy his instructions for them: “Take a lump of paste proportionate to the size of the pie you are to make, mould it in the shape of a sugar loaf, put it upright on the table, then with the palms of your hands flatten the sides of it; when you have equalized it all round and it is quite smooth, squeeze the middle of the point down to half the height of the paste,” then hollow the inside by pressing it with the fingers, and in doing this be careful to keep it in every part of equal thickness. Fill it,[118] roll out the cover, egg the edges, press them securely together, make a hole in the centre, lay a roll of paste round it, and encircle this with a wreath of leaves, or ornament the pie in any other way, according to the taste; glaze it with beaten yolk of egg, and bake it from two to three hours in a well-heated oven if it be small, and from four to five hours if it be large; though the time must be regulated in some measure by the nature of the contents, as well as by the size of the dish. Footnote 117: We remember having partaken of one which was brought from Bordeaux, and which contained a small boned ham of delicious flavour, surmounted by boned partridges, above which were placed fine larks likewise boned; all the interstices were filled with super-excellent forcemeat, and the whole, being a solid mass of nourishing viands, would have formed an admirable traveller’s larder in itself. Footnote 118: For the mode of doing this, see observations, page 253, and Chapter XXXIV. A ham must be boiled or stewed tender, and freed from the skin and blackened parts before it is laid in; poultry and game boned; and all meat highly seasoned. _Obs._—We know not if we have succeeded in making the reader comprehend that this sort of pie (with the exception of the cover, for which a portion must at first be taken off) is made from one solid lump of paste, which, after having been shaped into a cone, as Monsieur Ude directs, or into a high round, or oval form, is hollowed by pressing down the centre with the knuckles, and continuing to knead the inside equally round with the one hand, while the other is pressed close to the outside. It is desirable that the mode of doing this should be once _seen_ by the learner, if possible, as mere verbal instructions are scarcely sufficient to enable the quite-inexperienced cook to comprehend at once the exact form and appearance which should be given to the paste, and some degree of expertness? is always necessary to mould a pie of this kind _well_ with the fingers only. The first attempts should be made with very small pies, which are less difficult to manage. A VOL-AU-VENT. (ENTRÉE.) [Illustration] This dish can be successfully made only with the finest and lightest puff-paste (see _feuilletage_, page 345), as its height, which ought to be from four to five inches, depends entirely on its rising in the oven. Roll it to something more than an inch in thickness, and cut it to the shape and size of the inside of the dish in which it is to be served, or stamp it out with a fluted tin of proper dimensions; then mark the cover evenly about an inch from the edge all round, and ornament it and the border also, with a knife, as fancy may direct; brush yolk of egg quickly over them, and put the _vol-au-vent_ immediately into a brisk oven, that it may rise well, and be finely coloured, but do not allow it to be scorched. In from twenty to thirty minutes, should it appear baked through, as well as sufficiently browned, draw it out, and with the point of a knife detach the cover carefully where it has been marked, and scoop out all the soft unbaked crumb from the inside of the _vol-au-vent_; then turn it gently on to a sheet of clean paper, to drain the butter from it. At the instant of serving, fill it with a rich fricassee of lobster, or of sweetbreads, or with _turbot à la crême_, or with the white part of cold roast veal cut in thin collops not larger than a shilling, and heated in good white sauce with oysters (see minced veal and oysters, page 251), or with any other of the preparations which we shall indicate in their proper places, and send it immediately to table. The _vol-au-vent_, as the reader will perceive, is but the case, or crust, in which various kinds of delicate ragouts are served in an elegant form. As these are most frequently composed of fish, or of meats which have been already dressed, it is an economical as well as an excellent mode of employing such remains. The sauces in which they are heated must be quite thick, for they would otherwise soften, or even run through the crust. This, we ought to observe, should be examined before it is filled, and should any part appear too thin, a portion of the crumb which has been taken out, should be fastened to it with some beaten egg, and the whole of the inside brushed lightly with more egg, in order to make the loose parts of the _vol-au-vent_ stick well together. This method is recommended by an admirable and highly experienced cook, but it need only be resorted to when the crust is not solid enough to hold the contents securely. For moderate-sized _vol-au-vent_, flour, 1/2 lb.; butter, 1/2 lb.; salt, small saltspoonful; yolk, 1 egg; little water. Larger _vol-au-vent_, 3/4 lb. flour; other ingredients in proportion: baked 20 to 30 minutes. _Obs._—When the _vol-au-vent_ is cut out with the fluted cutter, a second, some sizes smaller, after being just dipped into hot water, should be pressed nearly half through the paste, to mark the cover. The border ought to be from three-quarters of an inch to an inch and a half wide. A VOL-AU-VENT OF FRUIT. (ENTREMETS.) After the crust has been made and baked as above, fill it at the moment of serving with peaches, apricots, mogul, or any other richly flavoured plums, which have been stewed tender in syrup; lift them from this, and keep them hot while it is boiled rapidly almost to jelly; then arrange the fruit in the _vol-au-vent_, and pour the syrup over it. For the manner of preparing it, see compotes of fruit, Chapter XXIV.; but increase the proportion of sugar nearly half, that the juice may be reduced quickly to the proper consistency for the _vol-au-vent_. Skin and divide the apricots, and quarter the peaches, unless they should be very small. VOL-AU-VENT À LA CRÊME. (ENTREMETS.) After having raised the cover and emptied the _vol-au-vent_, lay it on a sheet of paper, and let it become cold. Fill it just before it is sent to table with fruit, either boiled down to a rich marmalade, or stewed as for the preceding _vol-au-vent_, and heap well flavoured, but not too highly sweetened, whipped cream over it. The edge of the crust may be glazed by sifting sugar over it, when it is drawn from the oven, and holding a salamander or red hot shovel above it; or it may be left unglazed, and ornamented with bright coloured fruit jelly. OYSTER PATTIES.[119] (ENTRÉE). Footnote 119: These patties should be made small, with a thin crust, and _well filled_ with the oysters and their sauce. The substitution of fried crumbs for the covers will vary them very agreeably. For lobster patties, prepare the fish as for a _vol-au-vent_ but cut it smaller. Line some small pattypans with fine puff-paste, rolled thin and to preserve their form when baked, put a bit of bread into each; lay on the covers, pinch and trim the edges, and send the patties to a brisk oven. Plump and beard from two to three dozens of small oysters; mix very smoothly a teaspoonful of flour with an ounce of butter, put them into a clean saucepan, shake them round over a gentle fire, and let them simmer for two or three minutes; throw in a little salt, pounded mace, and cayenne, then add, by slow degrees, two or three spoonsful of rich cream, give these a boil, and pour in the strained liquor of the oysters; next, lay in the fish, and keep at the point of boiling for a couple of minutes. Raise the covers from the patties, take out the bread, fill them with the oysters and their sauce, and replace the covers. We have found it an improvement to stew the beards of the fish with a strip or two of lemon-peel, in a little good veal stock for a quarter of an hour, then to strain and add it to the sauce. The oysters, unless very small, should be once or twice divided. COMMON LOBSTER PATTIES. Prepare the fish for these as directed for fricasseed lobster, Chapter II., increasing a little the proportion of sauce. Fill the patty-cases with the mixture quite hot, and serve immediately. SUPERLATIVE LOBSTER-PATTIES. (_Author’s Receipt._) [Illustration] Form into balls about half the size of a filbert either the cutlet-mixture or the pounded lobster of Chapter III., roll them in the sifted coral, warm them through very gently, have ready some hot patty-cases (see page 361), pour into each a small spoonful of rich white sauce, or _Sauce à l’Aurore_ (see page 118), lay the balls round the edge, pile a larger one in the centre, and serve the whole very quickly. The Dresden patties of page 387 may be thus filled. GOOD CHICKEN PATTIES. (ENTRÉE.) Raise the white flesh entirely from a young undressed fowl, divide it once or twice, and lay it into a small clean saucepan, in which about an ounce of butter has been dissolved, and just begins to simmer; strew in a slight seasoning of salt, mace, and cayenne, and stew the chicken very softly indeed for about ten minutes, taking every precaution against its browning: turn it into a dish with the butter, and its own gravy, and let it become cold. Mince it with a sharp knife; heat it, without allowing it to boil, in a little good white sauce (which may be made of some of the bones of the fowl), and fill ready-baked patty-crusts, or small _vol-au-vents_ with it, just before they are sent to table; or stew the flesh only just sufficiently to render it firm, mix it after it is minced and seasoned with a spoonful or two of strong gravy, fill the patties, and bake them from fifteen to eighteen minutes. It is a great improvement to stew and mince a few mushrooms with the chicken. The breasts of cold turkeys, fowls, partridges, or pheasants, or the white part of cold veal, minced, heated in a _béchamel_ sauce, will serve at once for patties: they may also be made of cold game, heated in an _Espagnole_, or in a good brown gravy. PATTIES À LA PONTIFE. (ENTRÉE.) (_A fast day, or Maigre dish._) Mince, but not very small, the yolks of six fresh hard-boiled eggs; mince also and mix with them a couple of fine truffles,[120] a large saltspoonful of salt, half the quantity of mace and nutmeg, and a fourth as much of cayenne. Moisten these ingredients with a spoonful of thick cream, or _béchamel maigre_ (see page 109), or with a dessertspoonful of clarified butter; line the patty-moulds, fill them with the mixture, cover, and bake them from twelve to fifteen minutes in a moderate oven. They are excellent made with the cream-crust of page 347. Footnote 120: The bottled ones will answer _well_ for these. Yolks hard-boiled eggs, 6; truffles, 2 large; seasoning of salt, mace, nutmeg, and cayenne; cream, or _béchamel maigre_, 1 tablespoonful, or clarified butter, 1 dessertspoonful: baked moderate oven, 12 to 15 minutes. _Obs._—A spoonful or two of jellied stock or gravy, or of good white sauce, converts these into admirable patties: the same ingredients make also very superior rolls or cannelons. For Patties à la Cardinale, small mushroom-buttons stewed as for partridges, Chapter XIII., before they are minced, must be substituted for truffles; and the butter in which they are simmered should be added with them to the eggs. EXCELLENT MEAT ROLLS. Pound, as for potting (see page 305), and with the same proportion of butter and of seasonings, some half-roasted veal, chicken, or turkey. Make some forcemeat by the receipt No. 1, Chapter VI., and form it into small rolls, not larger than a finger; wrap twice or thrice as much of the pounded meat equally round each of these, first moistening it with a teaspoonful of water; fold them in good puff-paste, and bake them from fifteen to twenty minutes, or until the crust is perfectly done. A small quantity of the lean of a boiled ham may be finely minced and pounded with the veal, and very small mushrooms, prepared as for a partridge (page 329), may be substituted for the forcemeat. SMALL VOLS-AU-VENTS, OR PATTY-CASES. [Illustration] These are quickly and easily made with two round paste-cutters, of which one should be little more than half the size of the other: to give the pastry a better appearance, they should be fluted. Roll out some of the lightest puff-paste to a half-inch of thickness, and with the larger of the tins cut the number of patties required; then dip the edge of the small shape into hot water, and press it about half through them. Bake them in a moderately quick oven from ten to twelve minutes, and when they are done, with the point of a sharp knife, take out the small rounds of crust from the tops, and scoop all the crumb from the inside of the patties, which may then be filled with shrimps, oysters, lobster, chicken, pheasant, or any other of the ordinary varieties of patty meat, prepared with white sauce. Fried crumbs may be laid over them instead of the covers, or these last can be replaced. For sweet dishes, glaze the pastry, and fill it with rich whipped cream, preserve, or boiled custard; if with the last of these put it back into a very gentle oven until the custards are set. ANOTHER RECEIPT FOR TARTLETS. For a dozen tartlets, cut twenty-four rounds of paste of the usual size, and form twelve of them into rings by pressing the small cutter quite through them; moisten these with cold water, or white of egg, and lay them on the remainder of the rounds of paste, so as to form the rims of the tartlets. Bake them from ten to twelve minutes, fill them with preserve while they are still warm, and place over it a small ornament of paste cut from the remnants, and baked gently of a light colour. Serve the tartlets cold, or if wanted hot for table put them back into the oven for one minute after they are filled. A SEFTON, OR VEAL CUSTARD. Pour boiling, a pint of rich, clear, pale veal gravy on six fresh eggs, which have been well beaten and strained: sprinkle in directly the grated rind of a fine lemon, a little cayenne, some salt if needed, and a quarter-teaspoonful of mace. Put a paste border round a dish, pour in, first two ounces of clarified butter, and then the other ingredients; bake the Sefton in a very slow oven from twenty-five to thirty minutes, or until it is quite firm in the middle, and send it to table with a little good gravy. Very highly flavoured game stock, in which a few mushrooms have been stewed, may be used for this dish with great advantage in lieu of veal gravy; and a sauce made of the smallest mushroom buttons, may be served with it in either case. The mixture can be baked in a whole paste, if preferred so, or in well buttered cups; then turned out and covered with the sauce before it is sent to table. Rich veal or game stock, 1 pint; fresh eggs, 6; rind, 1 lemon; little salt and cayenne; pounded mace, 1/4 teaspoonful; butter, 2 oz.: baked, 25 to 30 minutes, _slow_ oven. APPLE CAKE, OR GERMAN TART. Work together with the fingers, ten ounces of butter and a pound of flour, until they resemble fine crumbs of bread; throw in a _small_ pinch of salt, and make them into a firm smooth paste with the yolks of two eggs and a spoonful or two of water. Butter thickly, a plain tin cake, or pie mould (those which open at the sides, see plate, page 344, are best adapted for the purpose); roll out the paste thin, place the mould upon it, trim a bit to its exact size, cover the bottom of the mould with this, then cut a band the height of the sides, and press it smoothly round them, joining the edge, which must be moistened with egg or water, to the bottom crust; and fasten upon them, to prevent their separation, a narrow and thin band of paste, also moistened. Next, fill the mould nearly from the brim with the following marmalade, which must be quite cold when it is put in. Boil together, over a gentle fire at first, but more quickly afterwards, three pounds of good apples with fourteen ounces of pounded sugar, or of the finest Lisbon, the strained juice of a large lemon, three ounces of fresh butter, and a teaspoonful of pounded cinnamon, or the lightly grated rind of a couple of lemons: when the whole is perfectly smooth and dry, turn it into a pan to cool, and let it be quite cold before it is put into the paste. In early autumn, a larger proportion of sugar may be required, but this can be regulated by the taste. When the mould is filled, roll out the cover, lay it carefully over the marmalade that it may not touch it; and when the cake is securely closed, trim off the superfluous paste, add a little pounded sugar to the parings, spread them out very thin, and cut them into leaves to ornament the top of the cake, round which they may be placed as a sort of wreath.[121] Bake it for an hour in a moderately brisk oven; take it from the mould, and should the sides not be sufficiently coloured put it back for a few minutes into the oven upon a baking tin. Lay a paper over the top, when it is of a fine light brown, to prevent its being too deeply coloured. This cake should be served hot. Footnote 121: Or, instead of these, fasten on it with a little white of egg, after it is taken from the oven, some ready-baked leaves of almond-paste (see page 355), either plain or coloured. Paste: flour, 1 lb.; butter, 10 oz.; yolks of eggs, 2; little water. Marmalade: apples, 3 lbs.; sugar, 14 oz. (more if needed); juice of lemon, 1; rinds of lemons, 2; butter, 3 oz.: baked, 1 hour. TOURTE MERINGUÉE, OR TART WITH ROYAL ICING.[122] Footnote 122: The limits to which we are obliged to confine this volume, compel us to omit many receipts which we would gladly insert; we have, therefore, rejected those which may be found in almost every English cookery book, for such as are, we apprehend, less known to the reader: this will account for the small number of receipts for pies and fruit tarts to be found in the present chapter. Lay a band of fine paste round the rim of a tart-dish, fill it with any kind of fruit mixed with a moderate proportion of sugar, roll out the cover very evenly, moisten the edges of the paste, press them together carefully, and trim them off close to the dish; spread equally over the top, to within rather more than an inch of the edge all round, the whites of three fresh eggs beaten to a quite solid froth and mixed quickly at the moment of using them with three tablespoonsful of dry sifted sugar. Put the tart into a moderately brisk oven, and when the crust has risen well and the icing is set, either lay a sheet of writing-paper lightly over it, or draw it to a part of the oven where it will not take too much colour. This is now a fashionable mode of icing tarts, and greatly improves their appearance. Bake half an hour. A GOOD APPLE TART. A pound and a quarter of apples weighed after they are pared and cored, will be sufficient for a small tart, and four ounces more for one of moderate size. Lay a border of English puff-paste, or of cream-crust round the dish, just dip the apples into water, arrange them very compactly in it, higher in the centre than at the sides, and strew amongst them from three to four ounces of pounded sugar, or more should they be very acid: the grated rind and the strained juice of half a lemon will much improve their flavour. Lay on the cover rolled thin, and ice it or not at pleasure. Send the tart to a moderate oven for about half an hour. This may be converted into the old-fashioned _creamed_ apple tart, by cutting out the cover while it is still quite hot, leaving only about an inch-wide border of paste round the edge, and pouring over the apples when they have become cold, from half to three-quarters of a pint of rich boiled custard. The cover divided into triangular sippets, was formerly stuck round the inside of the tart, but ornamental leaves of pale puff-paste have a better effect. Well-drained whipped cream may be substituted for the custard, and be piled high, and lightly over the fruit. TART OF VERY YOUNG GREEN APPLES. (GOOD.) Take very young apples from the tree before the cores are formed, clear off the buds and stalks, wash them well, and fill a tart-dish with them after having rolled them in plenty of sugar, or strew layers of sugar between them; add a very small quantity of water and bake the tart rather slowly, that the fruit may be tender quite through. It will resemble a green apricot-tart if carefully made. We give this receipt from recollection, having had the dish served often formerly, and having found it _very_ good. BARBERRY TART. Barberries, with half their weight of fine brown sugar, when they are thoroughly ripe, and with two ounces more when they are not quite so, make an admirable tart. For one of moderate size, put into a dish bordered with paste three quarters of a pound of barberries stripped from their stalks, and six ounces of sugar in alternate layers; pour over them three tablespoonsful of water, put on the cover, and bake the tart for half an hour. Another way of making it is, to line a shallow tin pan with very thin crust, to mix the fruit and sugar well together with a spoon before they are laid in, and to put bars of paste across instead of a cover; or it may be baked without either.[123] Footnote 123: The French make their fruit-tarts generally thus, in large shallow pans. Plums, split and stoned (or if of small kinds, left entire), cherries and currants freed from the stalks, and various other fruits, all rolled in plenty of sugar, are baked in the uncovered crust; or this is baked by itself, and then filled afterwards with fruit previously stewed tender. THE LADY’S TOURTE, AND CHRISTMAS TOURTE À LA CHÂTELAINE. [Illustration: Lady’s Tourte. ] To make this _Tourte_, which, when filled, is of pretty appearance, two paste-cutters are requisite, one the size, or nearly so, of the inside of the dish in which the _entremets_ is to be served, the other not more than an inch in diameter, and both of them fluted, as will be seen by the engraving. To make the paste for it, throw a small half saltspoonful of salt into half a pound of the finest flour, and break lightly into it four ounces of fresh butter, which should be firm. Make these up smoothly with cold milk or water, of which nearly a quarter of a pint will be sufficient, unless the butter should be very hard, when a spoonful or two more must be added. Roll the paste out as lightly as possible twice or _thrice_ if needful, to blend the butter thoroughly with it, and each time either fold it in three by wrapping the ends over each other, or fold it over and over like a roll pudding. An additional ounce, or even two, of butter can be used for it when very rich pastry is liked, but the _tourte_ will not then retain its form so well. Roll it out evenly to something more than three-quarters of an inch in thickness, and press the large cutter firmly through it; draw away the superfluous paste, and lay the _tourte_ on a lightly floured baking-tin. Roll the remainder of the paste until it is less than a quarter of an inch thick, and stamp out with the smaller cutter—of which the edge should be dipped into hot water, or slightly encrusted with flour—as many rounds as will form the border of the _tourte_. In placing them upon it, lay the edge of one over the other just sufficiently to give a shell-like appearance to the whole; and with the finger press lightly on the opposite part of the round to make it adhere to the under paste. Next, with a sharp-pointed knife, make an incision very evenly round the inside of the _tourte_ nearly close to the border, but be extremely careful not to cut too deeply into the paste. Bake it in a gentle oven, from twenty to thirty minutes. When it is done, detach the crust from the centre, where it has been marked with the knife, take out part of the crumb, fill the space high with apricot-jam, or with any other choice preserve, set it again for an instant into the oven, and serve it hot or cold. Spikes of blanched almonds, filberts, or pistachio-nuts, may be strewed over the preserve, when they are considered an improvement; and the border of the pastry may be glazed or ornamented to the fancy; but if well made, it will generally please in its quite simple form. It may be converted into a delicious _entrée_, by filling it either with oysters, or sliced sweetbreads, stewed, and served in thick, rich, white sauce, or _béchamel_. Lobster also prepared and moulded as for the new lobster patties of page 359, will form a superior dish even to these. _Obs._—Six ounces of flour, and three of butter, will make sufficient paste for this _tourte_, when it is required only of the usual moderate size. If richer paste be used for it, it must have two or three additional turns or rollings to prevent its losing its form in the oven. _Christmas Tourte à la Châtelaine._—Make the case for this _tourte_ as for the preceding one, and put sufficient mincemeat to fill it handsomely into a jar, cover it very securely with paste, or with two or three folds of thick paper, and bake it _gently_ for half an hour or longer, should the currants, raisins, &c., not be fully tender. Take out the inside of the _tourte_, heap the hot mincemeat in it, pour a little fresh brandy over; just touch it with a strip of lighted writing-paper at the door of the dining-room, and serve it in a blaze; or if better liked so, serve it very hot without the brandy, and with Devonshire cream as an accompaniment.[124] Footnote 124: Sufficient of cream for this purpose can easily be prepared from good milk. GENOISES À LA REINE, OR HER MAJESTY’S PASTRY. Make some _nouilles_ (see page 5), with the yolks of four fresh eggs, and when they are all cut as directed there, drop them lightly into a pint and a half of boiling cream (new milk will answer quite as well, or a portion of each may be used), in which six ounces of fresh butter have been dissolved. When these have boiled quickly for a minute or two, during which time they must be stirred to prevent their gathering into lumps, add a small pinch of salt, and six ounces of sugar on which the rinds of two lemons have been rasped; place the saucepan over a clear and very gentle fire, and when the mixture has simmered from thirty to forty minutes take it off, stir briskly in the yolks of six eggs, and pour it out upon a delicately clean baking-tin which has been slightly rubbed in every part with butter; level the _nouilles_ with a knife to something less than a quarter of an inch of thickness, and let them be very evenly spread; put them into a moderate oven, and bake them of a fine equal brown: should any air-bladders appear, pierce them with the point of a knife. On taking the paste from the oven, divide it into two equal parts; turn one of these, the underside uppermost, on to a clean tin or a large dish, and spread quickly over it a jar of fine apricot-jam, place the other half upon it, the brown side outwards, and leave the paste to become cold; then stamp it out with a round or diamond-shaped cutter, and arrange the _genoises_ tastefully in a dish. This pastry will be found _delicious_ the day it is baked, but its excellence is destroyed by keeping. Peach, green-gage, or magnum bonum jam, will serve for it quite as well as apricot. We strongly recommend to our readers this preparation, baked in pattypans, and served hot; or the whole quantity made into a pudding. From the smaller ones a little may be taken out with a teaspoon, and replaced with some preserve just before they are sent to table; or they may thus be eaten cold. _Nouilles_ of 4 eggs; cream or milk, 1-1/2 pint; butter, 6 oz.; sugar 6 oz.; rasped rinds of lemons, 2; grain of salt: 30 to 40 minutes. Yolks of eggs, 6: baked from 15 to 25 minutes. ALMOND PASTE. For a single dish of pastry, blanch seven ounces of fine Jordan almonds and one of bitter;[125] throw them into cold water as they are done, and let them remain in it for an hour or two; then wipe, and pound them to the finest paste, moistening them occasionally with a few drops of cold water, to prevent their oiling; next, add to, and mix thoroughly with them, seven ounces of highly-refined, dried, and sifted sugar; put them into a small preserving-pan, or enamelled stewpan, and stir them over a clear and very gentle fire until they are so dry as not to adhere to the finger when touched; turn the paste immediately into an earthen pan or jar, and when cold it will be ready for use. Footnote 125: When these are objected to, use half a pound of the sweet almonds. Jordan almonds, 7 oz.; bitter almonds, 1 oz.; cold water, 1 tablespoonful; sugar, 7 oz. _Obs._—The pan in which the paste is dried, should by no means be placed _upon_ the fire, but high above it on a bar or trevet: should it be allowed by accident to harden too much, it must be sprinkled plentifully with water, broken up quite small, and worked, as it warms, with a strong wooden spoon to a smooth paste again. We have found this method perfectly successful; but, if time will permit, it should be moistened some hours before it is again set over the fire. TARTLETS OF ALMOND PASTE. Butter slightly the smallest-sized pattypans, and line them with the almond-paste rolled as thin as possible; cut it with a sharp knife close to their edges, and bake or rather _dry_ the tartlets slowly at the mouth of a very cool oven. If at all coloured, they should be only of the palest brown; but they will become perfectly crisp without losing their whiteness if left for some hours in a very gently-heated stove or oven. They should be taken from the pans when two-thirds done, and laid, reversed, upon a sheet of paper placed on a dish or board, before they are put back into the oven. At the instant of serving, fill them with bright-coloured whipped cream, or with peach or apricot jam; if the preserve be used, lay over it a small star or other ornament cut from the same paste, and dried with the tartlets. Sifted sugar, instead of flour, must be dredged upon the board and roller in using almond paste. Leaves and flowers formed of it, and dried gradually until perfectly crisp, will keep for a long time in a tin box or canister, and they form elegant decorations for pastry. When a fluted cutter the size of the pattypans is at hand, it will be an improvement to cut out the paste with it, and then to press it lightly into them, as it is rather apt to break when pared off with a knife. To colour it, prepared cochineal, or spinach-green, must be added to it in the mortar. FAIRY FANCIES. (_Fantaisies de Fées._) [Illustration] [Illustration] A small, but very inexpensive set of tin cutters must be had for this pretty form of pastry, which is, however, quite worthy of so slight a cost. The short crust, of page 349, answers for it better than puff paste. Roll it thin and very even, and with the larger tin, shaped thus, cut out a dozen or more of small sheets; then, with a couple of round cutters, of which one should be about an inch in diameter, and the other only half the size, form four times the number of rings, and lay them on the sheets in the manner shown in the engraving. The easier mode of placing them regularly, is to raise each ring without removing the small cutter from it, to moisten it with a camel’s hair brush dipped in white of egg, and to lay it on the paste as it is gently loosened from the tin When all the pastry is prepared, set it into a very gentle oven, that it may become crisp and yet remain quite pale. Before it is sent to table, fill the four divisions of each _fantaisie_ with preserve of a different colour. For example: one ring with apple or strawberry jelly, another with apricot jam, a third with peach or green-gage, and a fourth with raspberry jelly. The cases may be iced, and ornamented in various ways before they are baked. They are prettiest when formed of white almond-paste, with pink or pale green rings: they may then be filled, at the instant of serving, with well-drained whipped cream. MINCEMEAT. (_Author’s Receipt._) To one pound of an unsalted ox-tongue, boiled tender and cut free from the rind, add two pounds of fine stoned raisins, two of beef kidney-suet, two pounds and a half of currants well cleaned and dried, two of good apples, two and a half of fine Lisbon sugar, from half to a whole pound of candied peel according to the taste, the grated rinds of two large lemons, and two more boiled quite tender, and chopped up entirely, with the exception of the pips, two small nutmegs, half an ounce of salt, a large teaspoonful of pounded mace, rather more of ginger in powder, half a pint of brandy, and as much good sherry or Madeira. Mince these ingredients separately, and mix the others all _well_ before the brandy and the wine are added; press the whole into a jar or jars, and keep it closely covered. It should be stored for a few days before it is used, and will remain good for many weeks. Some persons like a slight flavouring of cloves in addition to the other spices; others add the juice of two or three lemons, and a larger quantity of brandy. The inside of a tender and well-roasted sirloin of beef will answer quite as well as the tongue. Of a fresh-boiled ox-tongue, or inside of roasted sirloin, 1 lb.; stoned raisins and minced apples, each 2 lbs.; currants and fine Lisbon sugar, each 2-1/2 lbs.; candied orange, lemon or citron rind, 8 to 16 oz.; boiled lemons, 2 large; rinds of two others, grated; salt, 1/2 oz.; nutmegs, 2 small; pounded mace, 1 large teaspoonful, and rather more of ginger; good sherry or Madeira, 1/2 pint; brandy, 1/2 pint. _Obs._—The lemons will be sufficiently boiled in from one hour to one and a quarter. SUPERLATIVE MINCEMEAT. Take four large lemons, with their weight of golden pippins pared and cored, of jar-raisins, currants, candied citron and orange-rind, and the finest suet, and a fourth part more of pounded sugar. Boil the lemons tender, chop them small, but be careful first to extract all the pips; add them to the other ingredients, after all have been prepared with great nicety, and mix the whole _well_ with from three to four glasses of good brandy. Apportion salt and spice by the preceding receipt. We think that the weight of one lemon, in meat, improves this mixture; or, in lieu of it, a small quantity of crushed macaroons added just before it is baked. MINCE PIES. (ENTREMETS.) Butter some tin pattypans well, and line them evenly with fine puff paste rolled thin; fill them with mincemeat, moisten the edges of the covers, which should be nearly a quarter of an inch thick, close the pies carefully, trim off the superfluous paste, make a small aperture in the centre of the crust with a fork or the point of a knife, ice the pies or not, at pleasure, and bake them half an hour in a well-heated but not fierce oven: lay a paper over them when they are partially done, should they appear likely to take too much colour. 1/2 hour. MINCE PIES ROYAL. (ENTREMETS.) Add to half a pound of good mincemeat an ounce and a half of pounded sugar, the grated rind and the strained juice of a large lemon, one ounce of clarified butter, and the yolks of four eggs; beat these well together, and half fill, or rather more, with the mixture, some pattypans lined with fine paste; put them into a moderate oven, and when the insides are just set, ice them thickly with the whites of the eggs beaten to snow, and mixed quickly at the moment with four heaped tablespoonsful of pounded sugar; set them immediately into the oven again, and bake them slowly of a fine light brown. Mincemeat, 1/2 lb.; sugar, 1-1/2 oz.; rind and juice, 1 large lemon; butter, 1 oz.; yolks, 4 eggs. Icing: whites, 4 eggs; sugar, 4 tablespoonsful. THE MONITOR’S TART, OR TOURTE À LA JUDD. Put into an enamelled stewpan, or into a delicately clean saucepan, three quarters of a pound of well-flavoured apples, weighed after they are pared and cored; add to them from three to four ounces of pounded sugar, an ounce and a half of fresh butter cut small, and half a teaspoonful of pounded cinnamon, or the lightly grated rind of a small lemon. Let them stand over, or by the side of a gentle fire until they begin to soften, and toss them now and then to mingle the whole well, but do not stir them with a spoon; they should all remain unbroken and rather firm. Turn them into a dish, and let them become cold. Divide three-quarters of a pound of good light paste into two equal portions; roll out one quite thin and round, flour an oven-leaf and lay it on, as the tart cannot so well be moved after it is made; place the apples upon it in the form of a dome, but leave a clear space of an inch or more round the edge; moisten this with white of egg, and press the remaining half of the paste (which should be rolled out to the same size, and laid carefully over the apples) closely upon it: they should be well secured, that the syrup from the fruit may not burst through. Whisk the white of an egg to a froth, brush it over the tart with a paste brush or a small bunch of feathers, sift sugar thickly over, and then strew upon it some almonds blanched and roughly chopped; bake the tart in a moderate oven from thirty-five to forty-five minutes. It may be filled with peaches, or apricots, half stewed like the apples, or with cherries merely rolled in fine sugar; or with the pastry cream of page 173. Light paste, 1/2 to 3/4 lb.; apples, 12 oz.; butter, 1-1/2 oz.; sugar, 4 oz.; glazing of egg and sugar; some almonds: 35 to 45 minutes. PUDDING PIES. (ENTREMETS.) This form of pastry (or its name at least) is, we believe, peculiar to the county of Kent, where it is made in abundance, and eaten by all classes of people during Lent. Boil for fifteen minutes three ounces of ground rice[126] in a pint and a half of new milk, and when taken from the fire stir into it three ounces of butter and four of sugar; add to these six well-beaten eggs, a grain or two of salt, and a flavouring of nutmeg or lemon-rind at pleasure. When the mixture is nearly cold, line some large pattypans or some saucers with thin puff paste, fill them with it three parts full, strew the tops thickly with currants which have been cleaned and dried, and bake the pudding-pies from fifteen to twenty minutes in a gentle oven. Footnote 126: Or _rice-flour_. Milk, 1-1/2 pint; ground rice, 3 oz.: 15 minutes. Butter, 3 oz.; sugar, 1/4 lb.; nutmeg or lemon-rind; eggs, 6; currants, 4 to 6 oz.: 15 to 30 minutes. PUDDING PIES. (_A commoner kind._) One quart of new milk, five ounces of ground rice, butter, one ounce and a half (or more), four ounces of sugar, half a small nutmeg grated, a pinch of salt, four large eggs, and three ounces of currants. COCOA-NUT CHEESE-CAKES. (ENTREMETS.) (_Jamaica Receipt._) Break carefully the shell of the nut, that the liquid it contains may not escape.[127] Take out the kernel, pare thinly off the dark skin, and grate the nut on a delicately clean grater; put it, with its weight of pounded sugar, and its own milk, or a couple of spoonsful or rather more of water, into a silver or block-tin saucepan, or a very small copper stewpan perfectly tinned, and keep it gently stirred over a quite clear fire until it is tender: it will sometimes require an hour’s stewing to make it so. When a little cooled, add to the nut, and beat well with it, some eggs properly whisked and strained, and the grated rind of half a lemon. Line some pattypans with fine paste, put in the mixture, and bake the cheese-cakes from thirteen to fifteen minutes. Footnote 127: This, as we have elsewhere stated, is best secured by boring the shell before it is broken. The milk of the nut should never be used unless it be _very_ fresh. Grated cocoa-nut, 6 oz.; sugar, 6 oz.; the milk of the nut, or of water, 2 large tablespoonsful: 1/2 to 1 hour. Eggs, 5; lemon-rind, 1/2 of 1: 13 to 15 minutes. _Obs._—We have found the cheese-cakes made with these proportions very excellent indeed, but should the mixture be considered too sweet, another egg or two can be added, and a little brandy also. With a spoonful or two more of liquid too, the nut would become tender in a shorter time. COMMON LEMON TARTLETS. Beat four eggs until they are exceedingly light, add to them gradually four ounces of pounded sugar, and whisk these together for five minutes; strew lightly in, if it be at hand, a dessertspoonful of potato flour, if not, of common flour well dried and sifted,[128] then throw into the mixture by slow degrees, three ounces of good butter, which should be dissolved, but only just lukewarm: beat the whole well, then stir briskly in, the strained juice and the grated rind of one lemon and a half. Line some pattypans with fine puff-paste rolled very thin, fill them two-thirds full, and bake the tartlets about twenty minutes, in a moderate oven. Footnote 128: A few ratifias, or three or four macaroons rolled to powder, or a stale sponge or Naples biscuit or two, reduced to the finest crumbs, may be substituted for either of these: more lemon, too, can be added to the taste. Eggs, 4; sugar, 4 oz.; potato-flour, or common flour, 1 dessertspoonful; butter, 3 oz.; juice and rind of 1-1/2 full-sized lemon: baked 15 to 20 minutes. MADAME WERNER’S ROSENVIK CHEESE-CAKES. Blanch and pound to the finest possible paste, four ounces of fine fresh Jordan almonds, with a few drops of lemon-juice or water, then mix with them, very gradually indeed, six fresh, and thoroughly well-whisked eggs; throw in by degrees twelve ounces of pounded sugar, and beat the mixture without intermission all the time: add then the finely grated rinds of four small, or of three large lemons, and afterwards, by very slow degrees, the strained juice of all. When these ingredients are perfectly blended, pour to them in small portions, four ounces of just liquefied butter (six of clarified if exceedingly rich cheese-cakes are wished for), and again whisk the mixture lightly for several minutes; thicken it over the fire like boiled custard, and either put it into small pans or jars for storing,[129] or fill with it, one-third full, some pattypans lined with the finest paste; place lightly on it a layer of apricot, orange, or lemon-marmalade, and on this pour as much more of the mixture. Bake the cheese-cakes from fifteen to twenty minutes in a moderate oven. They are very good _without_ the layer of preserve. Footnote 129: This preparation will make excellent _fanchonettes_, or pastry-sandwiches. It will not curdle if gently boiled for two or three minutes (and stirred without ceasing), and it may be long kept afterwards. Jordan almonds, 4 oz.; eggs, 6; sugar, 12 oz.; rinds and strained juice of 4 small, or of 3 quite large lemons; butter, 4 oz. (6 for _rich_ cheese-cakes); layers of preserve. Baked 15 to 20 minutes, moderate oven. APFEL KRAPFEN. (_German Receipt._) Boil down three-quarters of a pound of good apples with four ounces of pounded sugar, and a small glass of white wine, or the strained juice of a lemon; when they are stewed quite to a pulp, keep them stirred until they are thick and dry; then mix them gradually with four ounces of almonds, beaten to a paste, or very finely chopped, two ounces of candied orange or lemon-rind shred extremely small, and six ounces of jar raisins stoned and quartered: to these the Germans add a rather high flavouring of cinnamon, which is a very favourite spice with them, but a grating of nutmeg, and some fresh lemon-peel, are, we think, preferable for this composition. Mix all the ingredients well together; roll out some butter-crust a full back-of-knife thickness, cut it into four-inch squares, brush the edges to the depth of an inch round with beaten egg, fill them with the mixture, lay another square of paste on each, press them very securely together, make, with the point of a knife, a small incision in the top of each, glaze them or not at pleasure, and bake them rather slowly, that the raisins may have time to become tender. They are very good. The proportion of sugar must be regulated by the nature of the fruit; and that of the almonds can be diminished when it is thought too much. A delicious tart of the kind is made by substituting for the raisins and candied orange-rind, two heaped tablespoonsful of very fine apricot jam. CRÊME PATISSIÈRE, OR PASTRY CREAM. To one ounce of fine flour add, very gradually, the beaten yolks of three fresh eggs; stir to them briskly, and in small portions at first, three-quarters of a pint of boiling cream, or of cream and new milk mixed; then turn the whole into a clean stewpan, and stir it over a very gentle fire until it is quite thick, take it off, and stir it well up and round; replace it over the fire, and let it just simmer from six to eight minutes; pour it into a basin, and add to it immediately a couple of ounces of pounded sugar, one and a half of fresh butter, cut small, or clarified, and a spoonful of the store mixture of page 153, or a little sugar which has been rubbed on the rind of a lemon. The cream is rich enough for common use without further addition; but an ounce and a half of ratifias, crushed almost to powder with a paste-roller improves it much, and they should be mixed with it for the receipt which follows. Flour, 1 oz.; yolks of eggs, 3; boiling cream, or milk and cream mixed, 3/4 pint: just simmered, 6 to 8 minutes. Butter, 1-1/2 oz.; sugar, 2 oz.; little store-flavouring, or rasped lemon-rind; ratifias, 1-1/2 oz. _Obs._—This is an excellent preparation, which may be used for tartlets, cannelons, and other forms of pastry, with extremely good effect. SMALL VOLS-AU-VENTS, À LA PARISIENNE. (ENTREMETS.) Make some small _vols-au-vents_ by the directions of page 361, either in the usual way, or with the rings of paste placed upon the rounds. Ice the edges as soon as they are taken from the oven, by sifting fine sugar thickly on them, and then holding a salamander or heated shovel over them, until it melts and forms a sort of pale barley-sugar glaze. Have ready, and quite hot, some _crême patissière_, made as above; fill the _vols-au-vents_ with it, and send them to table instantly. These will be found very good without the icing. PASTRY SANDWICHES. Divide equally in two, and roll off square and as thin as possible, some rich puff paste;[130] lay one half on a buttered tin, or copper oven-leaf, and spread it lightly with fine currant, strawberry or raspberry jelly; lay the remaining half closely over, pressing it a little with the rolling pin after the edges are well cemented together; then mark it into divisions, and bake it from fifteen to twenty minutes in a moderate oven. Footnote 130: Almond-paste is sometimes substituted for this. LEMON SANDWICHES. Substitute for preserve, in the preceding receipt, the lemon cheesecake mixture of page 372, with or without the almonds in it. FANCHONNETTES. (ENTREMETS). Roll out very thin and square some fine puff paste, lay it on a tin or copper oven-leaf, and cover it equally to within something less than an inch of the edge with peach or apricot jam; roll a second bit of paste to the same size, and lay it carefully over the other, having first moistened the edges with beaten egg, or water; press them together securely, that the preserve may not escape; pass a paste-brush or small bunch of feathers dipped in water over the top, sift sugar thickly on it, then with the back of a knife, mark the paste into divisions of uniform size, bake it in a well-heated but not fierce oven for twenty minutes, or rather more, and cut it while it is still hot, where it is marked. The fanchonnettes should be about three inches in length and two in width. In order to lay the second crust over the preserve without disturbing it, wind it lightly round the paste-roller, and in untwisting it, let it fall gently over the other part. This is not the form of pastry called by the French _fanchonnettes_. Fine puff paste, 1 lb.; apricot or peach jam, 4 to 6 oz.: baked 20 to 25 minutes. JELLY TARTLETS, OR CUSTARDS. Put four tablespoonsful of fine fruit-jelly into a basin, and stir to it gradually twelve spoonsful of beaten egg; if the preserve be rich and sweet, no sugar will be required. Line some pans with paste rolled very thin, fill them with the custard, and bake them about ten minutes.[131] Footnote 131: Strawberry or raspberry jelly will answer admirably for these. STRAWBERRY TARTLETS. (GOOD.) Take a full half-pint of freshly-gathered strawberries, without the stalks; first crush, and then mix them with two ounces and a half of powdered sugar; stir to them by degrees four well-whisked eggs, beat the mixture a little, and put it into pattypans lined with fine paste: they should be only three parts filled. Bake the tartlets from ten to twelve minutes. RASPBERRY PUFFS. Roll out thin some fine puff-paste, cut it in rounds or squares of equal size, lay some raspberry jam into each, moisten the edges of the paste, fold and press them together, and bake the puffs from fifteen to eighteen minutes. Strawberry, or any other jam will serve for them equally well. CREAMED TARTLETS. Line some pattypans with very fine paste, and put into each a layer of apricot jam; on this pour some thick boiled custard, or the pastry cream of page 373. Whisk the whites of a couple of eggs to a solid froth, mix a couple of tablespoonsful of sifted sugar with them, lay this icing lightly over the tartlets, and bake them in a gentle oven from twenty to thirty minutes, unless they should be very small, when less time must be allowed for them. RAMEKINS À L’UDE, OR SEFTON FANCIES. Roll out, rather thin, from six to eight ounces of fine cream-crust, or _feuilletage_ (see page 345); take nearly or quite half its weight of grated Parmesan, or something less of dry white English cheese; sprinkle it equally over the paste, fold it together, roll it out very lightly twice, and continue thus until the cheese and crust are well mixed. Cut the ramekins with a small paste-cutter; wash them with yolk of egg mixed with a little milk, and bake them about fifteen minutes. Serve them very hot. Cream-crust, or _feuilletage_, 6 oz.; Parmesan, 3 oz.; or English cheese, 2-1/2 oz.: baked 12 to 15 minutes. [Illustration: Mould for large Vols-au-vents or Tourtes. ] [Illustration: Paste Pincers. ] ------------------------------------------------------------------------