Modern cookery, in all its branches

Strip the outer rind from forty or fifty fine sound Spanish chestnuts, throw them into a large saucepan of hot water, and bring it to the point of boiling ; when the second skin parts from them easily, lift them out, and throw them into plenty of cold water ; peel, and wipe them dry ; then put them into a stewpan or bright saucepan, with as much highly-flavoured cold beef or veal gravy as will nearly cover them, and stew them very gently from three-quarters of an hour to a full hour: they should be quite tender, but unbroken. Add salt, cayenne, and thickening if required, and serve the chestnuts in their gravy. We have found it an improvement to have them floured and lightly browned in a little good butter before they are stewed, and also to add some thin strips of fresh lemon-rind to the gravy. Chestnuts, 40 or 50 ; gravy, f pint, or more : f to 1 hour. Obs.~ A couple of bay-leaves and a slice of lean ham will give an improved flavour to the sauce should it not be sufficiently rich : the ham should be laid under the chestnuts, but not served with them. When these are to be browned, or even otherwise, they may be freed readily from the second skin by shaking them with a small bit of butter in a frying-pan over a gentle fire. [chap, xviii. CHAPTER XVIII. Timbale or Pat6 Chaud. The greatest possible cleanliness and nicety should be observed in making pastr}'. The slab or board, paste-rollers, tins, cutters, moulds, everything, in fact, used for it, and especially the hands, should be equally free from the slightest soil or particle of dust. The more expeditiously the finer kinds of paste are made and despatched to the oven, and the less they are touched the better. Much of their excellence depends upon the baking also. They should have a suf- Raised Pie Mould, ficient degree of heat to raise them quickly, but not so fierce a one as to colour them too much before they are done, and still less to burn them. The oven door should remain closed after they are put in, and not removed until the paste is set Large raised pies require a steadily sustained, or, what is technically called a soaking heat, and to ensure this the oven should be made very hot, then cleared, and closely shut from half to a whole hour before it is used, to concentrate the heat. It is an advantage in this case to have a large log or two of cord-wood burned in it, in addition to the usual fuel. In mixing paste, the water should be added gradually, and the whole gently drawn together with the fingers, until sufficient has been added, when it should be lightly kneaded until it is as smooth as possible. When carelessly made, the surface is often left covered with small dry crumbs or lumps ; or the water is poured in heedlessly in so large a proportion that it becomes necessary to add more flour to render it workable in any way ; and this ought particularly to be avoided when a certain weight of all the ingredients has been taken. TO GLAZE OR ICE PASTRY.* The fine yellow glaze appropriate to meat pies is given with beaten yolk of egg, which should be laid on with a paste brush, or a small bunch of feathers : if a lighter colour be wished for, whisk the whole of the egg together, or mix a little milk with the yolk.