HOW TO MAKE PIES
OF VARIOUS KINDS

Beef-Steak Pie—Prepare the steaks as stated under Beefsteaks, and when seasoned and rolled with fat in each, put them in a dish with puff paste round the edges; put a little water in the dish, and cover it with a good crust.

Chicken Pie—Cut the chicken in pieces, and boil nearly tender. Make a rich crust with an egg or two to make it light and puffy. Season the chicken and slices of ham with pepper, salt, mace, nutmeg, and cayenne. Put them in layers, first the ham, chicken, force-meat balls, and hard eggs in layers. Make a gravy of knuckle of veal, mutton bones, seasoned with herbs, onions, pepper, etc. Pour it over the contents of the pie, and cover with paste. Bake an hour.

Cocoanut Pie—Take a teacup of cocoanut, put it into a coffee-cup, fill it up with sweet milk, and let it soak a few hours. When ready to bake the pie, take two tablespoonfuls of flour, mix with milk, and stir in three-fourths of a cup of milk (or water); place on the stove, and stir until it thickens. Add butter the size of a walnut, while warm. When cool, add a little salt, two eggs, saving out the white of one for the top. Sweeten to taste. Add the cocoanut, beating well. Fill the crust and bake. When done, have the extra white beaten ready to spread over the top. Return to the oven and brown lightly.

Cream Pie—Take eight eggs, eight ounces pounded sugar, eight ounces flour, put all together into a stew-pan with two glasses of milk, stir until it boils, then add quarter pound of butter, and quarter pound of almonds, chopped fine; mix well together, make paste, roll it out half an inch thick, cut out a piece the size of a teaplate, put in a baking tin, spread out on it the cream, and lay strips of paste across each way and a plain broad piece around the edge, egg and sugar the top and bake in a quick oven.

Fish Pie—Pike, perch and carp may be made into very savory pies if cut into fillets, seasoned and baked in paste, sauce made of veal broth, or cream put in before baking.

Game Pie—Divide the birds, if large, into pieces or joints. They may be pheasants, partridges, etc. Add a little bacon or ham. Season well. Cover with puff paste, and bake carefully. Pour into the pie half a cupful of melted butter, the juice of a lemon, and a glass of sherry, when rather more than half baked.

Giblet Pie—Clean the giblets well; stew with a little water, onion, pepper, salt, sweet herbs, till nearly done. Cool, and add beef, veal or mutton steaks. Put the liquor of the stew to the giblets. Cover with paste, and when the pie is baked, pour into it a large teacupful of cream.

Lamb Pasty—Bone the lamb, cut it into square pieces; season with salt, pepper, cloves, mace, nutmeg, and minced thyme; lay in some beef suet, and the lamb upon it, making a high border about it; then turn over the paste close, and bake it. When it is enough, put in some claret, sugar, vinegar, and the yolks of eggs, beaten, together. To have the sauce only savory, and not sweet, let it be gravy only, or the baking of bones in claret.

Salmon Pie.—Grate the rind of one small lemon, or half a large one; beat the yolks of 2 eggs; 4 tablespoons of sugar; beat all together; add to this 1/2 pint of cold water, with 1-1/2 tablespoons of flour in it; rub smooth so there will be no lumps; beat the whites of two eggs to a stiff froth; stir this in your pie-custard before you put it in the pan. Bake with one crust, and bake slowly.

Salmon Pie—Grate the rind of a lemon into the yolks of three fresh eggs; beat for five minutes, adding three heaping tablespoonfuls of granulated sugar; after squeezing in the juice of the lemon add half a teacupful of water; mix all thoroughly, and place in a crust the same as made for custard pie; place in oven and bake slowly. Take the whites of the three eggs, and beat to a stiff froth, adding two tablespoonfuls of pulverized sugar, and juice of half a lemon; after the pie bakes and is cool, place the frosting on top, and put into a hot oven to brown.

Mince-Meat—There are various opinions as to the result of adding meat to the sweet ingredients used in making this favorite dish. Many housewives think it an improvement, and use either the under-cut of a well-roasted surloin of beef or a boiled fresh ox-tongue for the purpose. Either of these meats may be chosen with advantage, and one pound, after it has been cooked, will be found sufficient; this should be freed from fat, and well minced. In making mince-meat, each ingredient should be minced separately and finely before it is added to the others. For a moderate quantity, take two pounds of raisins (stoned), the same quantity of currants, well washed and dried, ditto of beef suet, chopped fine, one pound of American apples, pared and cored, two pounds of moist sugar, half a pound of candied orange-peel, and a quarter of a pound of citron, the grated rinds of three lemons, one grated nutmeg, a little mace, half an ounce of salt, and one teaspoonful of ginger. After having minced the fruit separately, mix all well together with the hand; then add half a pint of French brandy and the same of sherry. Mix well with a spoon, press it down in jars, and cover it with a bladder.

Good Mince Pies.—Six pounds beef; 5 pounds suet; 5 pounds sugar; 2 ounces allspice; 2 ounces cloves; 3/4 pound cinnamon; 1/2 pint molasses; 1-1/4 pounds seedless raisins; 2 pounds currants; 1/2 pound citron chopped fine; 1 pound almonds, chopped fine; 2 oranges; 1 lemon-skin, and all chopped fine; 2 parts chopped apples to one of meat; brandy and cider to taste.

Mock Mince Pies.—One teacup of bread; one of vinegar; one of water; one of raisins; one of sugar; one of molasses; one half-cup of butter; one teaspoon of cloves; one of nutmeg; one of cinnamon. The quantity is sufficient for three pies. They are equally as good as those made in the usual way.

Potato Pasty.—Boil and peel and mash potatoes as fine as possible; mix them with salt, pepper, and a good bit of butter. Make a paste; roll it out thin like a large puff, and put in the potato; fold over one half, pinching the edges. Bake in a moderate oven.

Potato Pie.—Skin some potatoes and cut them in slices; season them; and also some mutton, beef, pork or veal, and a lump of butter. Put layers of them and of the meat. A few eggs boiled and chopped fine improves it.

Veal and Ham Pie.—Cut about one pound and a half of veal into thin slices, as also a quarter of a pound of cooked ham; season the veal rather highly with white pepper and salt, with which cover the bottom of the dish; then lay over a few slices of ham, then the remainder of the veal, finishing with the remainder of the ham; add a wineglassful of water, and cover with a good paste, and bake; a bay-leaf will be an improvement.

Vinegar Pie.—Five tablespoons vinegar, five sugar, two flour, two water, a little nutmeg. Put in dish and bake.