Excellent puddings are made with birds, boned, and
rolled up with a slice of bacon, and any nice stuffing, inside
them. Take a brace of partridges, for instance, and bone
them, lay them out flat, putting a few thin slices of cooked
bacon over them, over that strew some chopped mush-
rooms, their livers chopped, a little minced shallot, and a
good dusting of spiced pepper ; roll the birds up and put
them into the pudding basin, pour in a little rich gravy✪ Birds Pudding
made from their bones, &c., close the paste over them, and
boil for three hours. This is obviously practicable with
any game.
-—- ♦■
A few nice Pies.
^THlhY. in the liigh art studies of this braucli of
V'V^ culinary science, the clever cook finds grand
opportunities of displaying his skill, he possesses
in its humbler subjects a ready method of practising
economy, and of exercising his inventive ability. The
savoury pie is indeed an admirable institution. In no
manner can odds and ends of good food be more satisfac-
torily disposed of. AVe like a hot pie, "vve like a cold pie ;
it is welcome at breakfast, at luncheon, or at dinner ; at
the pic-nic, the wedding breakfast, or the ball supper.
And yet it must be confessed that we rarely eat a pie in
India that can be compared with an ordinary home-made
pasty in England. The superiority of British meat may,
no doubt, account for this failure to a certain extent, and
the climate of the " plain country" may be against us, but
I think the chief diflSculty is susceptible of removal if we
study the laws of pie-making and teach our cooks accord-
ing to them.
A very common fault committed by Ramasamy in his
concoction of a pie, is this : — he is apt, unless taught other-
wise, to cook, or partly cook, the meat of which it is made
lefore covering it with paste, and baking it. It is, I hope,
unnecessary for me to point out that this is an altogether
erroneous proceeding. Whatever materials you may choose
— pigeons, chicken, steak, or game, — see thnt they are
A FEW NICE PIES. 273
laid in the pie-dish uncooked, and properly covered with
paste according to the correct laws of cookery. Previously
cooked meat may very often be made use of in a pie, I
grant, but a good ' pasty' can hardly be produced if the
whole of its contents have been dressed beforehand.
Having selected the meat for your pie, the first thing to
remember is the gravy which must be made separately,
and part of it poured in and amongst the layers in the pie-
dish before the paste is laid over it. A little wine lends
valuable aid to such gravies : the remains of a good bottle
of champagne can be used with great advantage in pigeon-
pies, chicken and ham pies, &c., and Madeira is wanted
for game, venison, and hare pies. The gravy ought not
to^ZZthe pie-dish; about a breakfast-cupful will suffice
for a pie of moderate size in the first instance.
Prohibit most strenuously the use of Worcester, Tapp,
or cmij strongly flavoured sauce of that kind : it is owing
to Ramasamy's predilection for the sauce bottle that one
peculiar kind of taste prevails throughout his dishes, in
his savoiu-y pies especially.
Page 154 · 1 recipe record on this page
Presented as published in 1885. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
Excellent puddings are made with birds, boned, and rolled up with a slice of bacon, and any nice stuffing, inside them. Take a brace of partridges, for instance, and bone them, lay them out flat, putting a few thin slices of cooked bacon over them, over that strew some chopped mushrooms, their livers chopped, a little minced shallot, and a good dusting of spiced pepper ; roll the birds up and put them into the pudding basin, pour in a little rich gravy made from their bones, &c., close the paste over them, and boil for three hours. This is obviously practicable with any game.
-—- ♦■ A few nice Pies.
THRIFTY. in the high art studies of this branch of
V'V^ culinary science, the clever cook finds grand opportunities of displaying his skill, he possesses in its humbler subjects a ready method of practising economy, and of exercising his inventive ability. The savoury pie is indeed an admirable institution. In no manner can odds and ends of good food be more satisfactorily disposed of. We like a hot pie, we like a cold pie ; it is welcome at breakfast, at luncheon, or at dinner ; at the pic-nic, the wedding breakfast, or the ball supper. And yet it must be confessed that we rarely eat a pie in India that can be compared with an ordinary home-made pasty in England. The superiority of British meat may, no doubt, account for this failure to a certain extent, and the climate of the " plain country" may be against us, but I think the chief difficulty is susceptible of removal if we study the laws of pie-making and teach our cooks according to them.
A very common fault committed by Ramasamy in his concoction of a pie, is this : — he is apt, unless taught otherwise, to cook, or partly cook, the meat of which it is made lefore covering it with paste, and baking it. It is, I hope, unnecessary for me to point out that this is an altogether erroneous proceeding. Whatever materials you may choose — pigeons, chicken, steak, or game, — see thnt they are
laid in the pie-dish uncooked, and properly covered with paste according to the correct laws of cookery. Previously cooked meat may very often be made use of in a pie, I grant, but a good ' pasty' can hardly be produced if the whole of its contents have been dressed beforehand.
Having selected the meat for your pie, the first thing to remember is the gravy which must be made separately, and part of it poured in and amongst the layers in the piedish before the paste is laid over it. A little wine lends valuable aid to such gravies : the remains of a good bottle of champagne can be used with great advantage in pigeonpies, chicken and ham pies, &c., and Madeira is wanted for game, venison, and hare pies. The gravy ought not to fill the pie-dish; about a breakfast-cupful will suffice for a pie of moderate size in the first instance.
Prohibit most strenuously the use of Worcester, Tapp, or any strongly flavoured sauce of that kind : it is owing to Ramasamy's predilection for the sauce bottle that one peculiar kind of taste prevails throughout his dishes, in his savoury pies especially.
Records on this page
Birds Pudding