Miss Corson's practical American cookery and household management

as already directed ; work very quickly and lightly, touching the pastry as little as possible, and in the coldest place about the kitchen. Remember that it is heating and pressing pastry that make it heavy and soggy. If any pastry remains after the pie is made, wrap it in a floured cloth, and keep it in a cool, dry place : it will keep quite well for several days, and requires only to be rolled out two or three times before using it to make it quite light. VENISON PIE. Make a good plain pastry as directed in the preceding recipe, and line an earthen pudding-dish with it, a quarter of SIDE-DISHES (ENTREES). 301 an inch thick. Chop very fine enough beef-suet to make a quarter-inch layer next the crust, at the bottom and top of the pie. Cut the venison from the bones, and divide it in pieces about an inch square ; season it rather highly with salt, pepper, and ground cloves, and lay it in the dish ; pour over it a glass of red wine for every two pounds of venison ; cover it with a layer of chopped suet, and then with pastry, as shown in the accompanying illustration, wetting the edges of the upper and under crusts to make them adhere. Cut several places in the top crust to permit the escape of steam in baking, and brush the crust with beaten egg. Bake the pie in a moderately hot oven for two hours, or until the venison is tender ; this can be ascertained by thrusting a skewer into the meat through one of the cuts in the top crust. While the pie is being baked, stew the bones of the venison in enough water to cover them, with a palatable seasoning of salt and pepper. When the pie is done, pour the gravy thus made into it through the cuts in the top crust, and serve it hot. VENISON PASTY, The old English venison pasty was made in a very large dish, simply because of the number of persons generally included in a household. A very good small one can be made in such a dish as is shown in the picture accompanying the preceding recipe. The pastry should not be too rich. A good recipe has been given for pastry for meat and game pies ; it should be about a quarter of an inch thick when it is placed on the pie, and should be protected with buttered paper until the last half-hour of baking. Cut the venison in small slices, and lay it in a deep dish, with slices of venison or mutton fat between the slices of venison, seasoning the layers of meat with salt, pepper, and powdered allspice; pour into the dish a gravy made by stewing the trimmings of venison in water enough to cover them, with salt and pepper, for an hour, or with any good meat-broth and claret mixed in equal proportions; a teaspoonful of lemon-juice and a gill of port-wine may be substituted for the claret. When no wine is used, a very little chopped onion is put into English venison pasties. If the venison is tender, the crust may be put on the pie at once ; otherwise it is well to bake the venison for an hour before covering the pasty. Either use a bottom crust, or run a strip of pastry around the sides of the dish, and wet the edges to make the upper crust adhere. Make a groove l^enison Pasty, in the top crust as shown in the picture ; cut several slits to permit the escape of steam ; brush the crust with beaten egg, and bake the pasty slowly for two hours. Use it hot or cold.