The art of cooking

Note. — ^When small fruits are to be made into pies, such as strawberries, raspberries, etc., they should be treated in the manner above laid down, as. baking them with the crust causes them to lose flavor and freshness. Custard Pie. — Three eggs, three gills of milk, one ounce of sugar, one- half teaspoonful of grated nutmeg. Line a pie tin with the pie crust, see page 185, and putting the eggs and sugar into a bowl beat them together until the eggs become very light. Add to this the milk, and pour all into the crust lined pie tin, place the whole in a moderate oven, and bake the pie for half an hour. When done, grate over the surface the nutmeg, and serve cold or hot as the taste may suggest, although custard pie should be cooled at once if desired cold, as the crust soaks with standing, and becomes unpalatable. Pumpkin Pie. — One-half of a pumpkin, three eggs, one pint of milk, one-half teaspoonful of grated nutmeg, one saltspoonful of powdered mace, four ounces of sugar. l88 PIES AND PASTRIES. • Pare the pumpkin of its ydlow rind, remove the seeds, slice and cut the pumpkin into small pieces, and placing these in a saucepan, cover them with cold water, and putting the saucepan over the fire, stew the contents until quite soft and nearly dry, when the pumpkin should be passed through a cullender and made quite smooth. Take one pint of the stewed pumpkin, stir into it the milk and sugar, beat the eggs until very light, and add these also, after which line a deep pie tin with the pie crust, pour into this enough of the pumpkin mixture to fill it within a quarter of an inch of the top, and place the tin in a quick oven and bake for twenty minutes. When done, the spice should be grated over the top and the pie then be returned for a moment to the hottest part of the oven to brown a little on the surface. There will be sufficient of the pumpkin mixture to fill two pie tins, which may be used at once if required, or set aside until the following day, as pumpkin pies require, to be eaten when quite fresh, or the crust becomes soaked and indigestible. Note. — Squash pie may be prepared in the same way as the pumpkin pies. Mince Pie. — Fourteen pounds of brown sugar, eight * pounds of suet, eight pounds of raisins, eight pounds of currants, one-quarter pound of mixed spice, two pounds of citron, one-half gallon of brandy, one tablespoonful of powdered ginger, one tablespoonful of powdered cinnamon, three ounces of apple, one-half gill of cider, two ounces of lean boiled beef, two heaped tablespoonfuls of strawberry jam. MINCE PIE. To prepare the mince meat, which should stand at least one month before being used, skin first the suet and chop it very finely. Seed the raisins and chop these also very finely. Wash the currants w^U and drying them thoroughly, chop these finely with the citron, which must first be cut in very thin slices. Place the chopped ingredients in a large bowl, mix them thoroughly together and add to this the sugar, the mixed spice, cinnamon and ginger, and stirring all well together, pour over the brandy, and stir all again until thoroughly saturated with the moisture. This mince should be packed for keeping, into a stone- Jar and closely covered.