A GOOD COMMON ENGLISH GAME PIE

Modern cookery for private families · Acton, Eliza · 1845
Source
Modern cookery for private families
Time
Cook: 120 min Total: 120 min
Status
success · extracted 13 days ago
Not a recipe
No
Ingredients (25)
For the pie
For the crust
For gravy if needed
For raised pie variation
Instructions (29)
  1. Raise the flesh entire from the upper side of the best end of a well-kept neck of venison.
  2. Trim the venison to the length of the dish in which the pie is to be served.
  3. Rub the venison with a mixture of salt, cayenne, pounded mace, and nutmeg.
  4. Cut down into joints a fine young hare which has hung from eight to fourteen days.
  5. Bone the back and thighs of the hare.
  6. Fill the boned back and thighs with forcemeat No. 1, adding a double portion of butter and a small quantity of minced eschalots (if liked).
  7. Add the raw, chopped liver of the hare to the forcemeat.
  8. Line the dish with a rich short crust.
  9. Lay the venison in the centre of the dish.
  10. Arrange the hare closely round and on top of the venison.
  11. Fill the vacant spaces with more forcemeat.
  12. Add a few spoonsful of well-jellied gravy.
  13. Fasten on the cover securely.
  14. Ornament the cover if desired.
  15. Bake the pie for two hours in a well heated oven.
Gravy/Soup from Remnants
  1. Stew down the remnants and bones of the hare and venison into a small quantity of excellent soup.
  2. Alternatively, stew them down with less water into an admirable gravy.
  3. Clear the gravy from fat.
  4. Pour part of the cleared gravy into the pie.
Jelly if no stock is at hand
  1. Boil down two pounds of shin of beef in a quart of water until reduced by half.
  2. Season the reduction with a good slice of lean ham, a few peppercorns, seven or eight cloves, a blade of mace, and a little salt.
Crust Variation
  1. Use one and a half pounds of flour for the crust.
  2. If preferred, the crust may be laid around the sides only of the dish, instead of entirely over it.
Raised Pie Variation
  1. Divide the venison and intermix it with the hare.
  2. Season the whole mixture highly.
  3. Fill all cavities with forcemeat No. 18 or the truffled sausage-meat from page 263.
  4. Before laying on the top paste, cover the surface of the meat with slices of fat bacon or plenty of butter to prevent it from becoming hard.
  5. Do not put any liquid into the pie until after it is baked, if at all.
  6. Bake the raised pie for an additional half to a full hour longer than if baked in a dish.
Original Text
A GOOD COMMON ENGLISH GAME PIE. Raise the flesh entire from the upper side of the best end of a well-kept neck of venison, trim it to the length of the dish in which the pie is to be served, and rub it with a mixture of salt, cayenne, pounded mace, and nutmeg. Cut down into joints a fine young hare which has hung from eight to fourteen days, bone the back and thighs, and fill them with forcemeat No. 1 (Chapter VIII., page 157), but put into it a double portion of butter, and a small quantity of minced eschalots, should their flavour be liked, and the raw liver of the hare, chopped small. Line the dish with a rich short crust (see page 337), lay the venison in the centre, and the hare closely round and on it; fill the vacant spaces with more forcemeat, add a few spoonsful of well-jellied gravy, fasten on the cover securely, ornament it or not, at pleasure, and bake the pie for two hours in a well heated oven. The remnants and bones of the hare and venison may be stewed down into a small quantity of excellent soup, or with a less proportion of water into an admirable gravy, part of which, after having been cleared from fat, may be poured into the pie. The jelly, added to its contents at first, can be made, when no such stock is at hand, of a couple of pounds of shin of beef, boiled down in a quart of water, which must be reduced quite half, and seasoned only with a good slice of lean ham, a few peppercorns, seven or eight cloves, a blade of mace, and a little salt. One pound and a half of flour will be sufficient for the crust; this, when it is so preferred, may be laid round the sides only of the dish, instead of entirely over it. The prime joints of a second hare may be substituted for the 353venison when it can be more easily procured; but the pie made entirely of venison, without the forcemeat, will be far better. Baked 2 hours. Obs.—These same ingredients will make an excellent raised pie, if the venison be divided and intermixed with the hare: the whole should be highly seasoned, and all the cavities filled with the forcemeat No. 18 (Chapter VIII.),[116] or with the truffled sausage-meat of page 263. The top, before the paste is laid over, should be covered with slices of fat bacon, or with plenty of butter, to prevent the surface of the meat from becoming hard. No liquid is to be put into the pie until after it is baked, if at all. It will require from half to a full hour more of the oven than if baked in a dish. 116.  The second or third forcemeat mentioned under this No. (18), would be the most appropriate for a game pie.
Notes
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