Manual for army cooks

Pour over all the strained gravy. If the floured butter or dripping is not used the gravy must be thickened with blended browned flour. Wet with cold water the upper edge of the lower crust ; lay on the top crust ; trim the paste around the edge of the dish ; pinch the edges of the lower and upper crusts together. Make a slit in the center of the top crust. Put the pie into the oven and bake. Keep a moderate heat. It will bake in from one to one and a half hours. If, after baking some time, there is fear of the crust burning, cover it with a tin pan, removing the cover in time to allow the crust to brown ; serve in the dish in which it was baked. A bay leaf for every pound of meat may be added when the meat is put in to stew. Instead of semi-stewing the meat, it may be browned in a frying pan in hot beef dripping or lard. If, when the dish is full, there is not sufficient gravy, use stock or water. The bottom and side crust may be omitted, or the bottom and sides may be lined with crackers or slices of bread previously dipped in stock gravy or water. Lamb, veal, pork, venison, or any sort of fresh meat may be made into a pie. Use thin slices of pork, bacon, or ham in veal pie, putting them in next to the veal. Meat pies may also be made, as above, from any kind of cold cooked meats, using stock or gravy in preference to water. BAKED BEEF HEART. Cut across the base of the heart and remove the valves and all tough fibrous tissue. Prepare a stuffing as follows : Mix thoroughly into some grated bread crumbs one small onion parboiled and minced, a half teaspoonful of sage, pepper and salt, and enough butter, beef dripping, or lard to moisten the mixture. Soak the heart in cold salt water for two hours, then wash it thoroughly in cold water. Put it into a pot of cold water, enough to cover it, add two teaspoonfuls of salt, cover, and boil for ten minutes. Remove the scum as it rises ; take out the heart, pepper and salt the cavities, put in the stuffing, secure it with cross-stitches, put it into a baking pan, spread it over with beef dripping, and sprinkle it with pepper and salt. Pour into the pan about a pint of boiling-hot stock, gravy, or beef dripping. Bake in a moderate oven, allowing twenty minutes to the pound. Baste frequently. Be careful that it does not burn. Serve while hot, as it cools rapidly ; serve with a gravy from recipe for Gravy for Baked Meats. Veal heart should be thoroughly washed but not soaked nor parboiled. In other respects it is prepared and baked as above. POTATO PIE. (Sufficient for 22 men.) 16^ pounds meat. 1 pound onions. 20 pounds potatoes. 3 ounces salt. ^ ounce pepper. Cut up and stew the onions with jelly from the meat added; boil or steam the potatoes, and mash them; grease the inside of a baking dish; line the sides with a portion of the mashed potatoes ; place the meat and cooked onions in the center; season with pepper and salt ; cover over with the remainder of the mashed potatoes, and bake till the potato cover is brown. As the mashed potatoes absorb the moisture of the meat and render it dry, about two pints of gravy prepared from the liquor in which the onions were cooked should be poured into the pie after it is taken out of the oven. TURKISH PILLAU.