Beef-Steak Pie

Modern cookery for private families · Acton, Eliza · 1845
Source
Modern cookery for private families
Time
Cook: 80 min Total: 80 min
Status
success · extracted 13 days ago
Not a recipe
No
Ingredients (14)
Instructions (24)
  1. Trim off the coarse skin from the rump-steak.
  2. Remove part of the fat if there is much of it.
  3. If the beef is not tender, gently beat it with a paste-roller until the fibre is broken.
  4. Divide the steak into slices half as large as the hand.
  5. Lay the slices into a dish bordered with paste.
  6. Season with salt and pepper or cayenne.
  7. Pour in sufficient water to make the gravy and keep the meat moist.
  8. Lay on the cover.
  9. Brush the edge of the cover and the rim of the dish with egg or cold water.
  10. Join the cover securely to the paste around the rim.
  11. Trim both the cover and rim paste close to the dish.
  12. Pass the point of a knife through the middle of the cover.
  13. Add a slight roll or ornament of paste around the opening.
  14. Decorate the border of the pie in any usual mode.
  15. Send the pie to a well-heated, but not fierce oven.
  16. Bake for about an hour and twenty minutes.
  17. For a richer pie, put bearded oysters in alternate layers with the meat.
  18. Add their strained liquor to a little good gravy.
  19. Simmer the oyster beards in the gravy for a few minutes to give it flavor.
  20. Use a light puff paste for the crust.
  21. If oysters are omitted, season with a small portion of minced onion or eschalot.
  22. Mushrooms can be added to improve the pie.
  23. Veal pies can be made using this recipe.
  24. Slices of lean ham or parboiled ox-tongue can be added to veal pies.
Original Text
BEEF-STEAK PIE. From a couple to three pounds of rump-steak will be sufficient for a good family pie. It should be well kept though perfectly sweet, for in no form can tainted meat be more offensive than when it is enclosed in paste. Trim off the coarse skin, and part of the fat should there be much of it (many eaters dislike it altogether in pies, and when this is the case every morsel should be carefully cut away). If the beef should not appear very tender, it may be gently beaten with a paste-roller until the fibre is broken, then divided into slices half as large as the hand, and laid into a dish bordered with paste. It should be seasoned with salt and pepper, or cayenne, and sufficient water poured in to make the gravy, and keep the meat moist. Lay on the cover, and be careful always to brush the edge in every part with egg or cold water, then join it securely to the paste which is round the rim, trim both off close to the dish, pass the point of the knife through the middle of the cover, lay some slight roll or ornament of paste round it, and decorate the border of the pie in any of the usual modes, which are too common to require description. Send the pie to a well-heated, but not fierce oven for about an hour and twenty minutes. To make a richer beef-steak pie put bearded oysters in alternate layers with the meat, add their strained liquor to a little good gravy in which the beards may be simmered for a few minutes to give it further flavour, and make a light puff paste for 355the crust. Some caters like it seasoned with a small portion of minced onion or eschalot when the oysters are omitted. Mushrooms improve all meat-pies. Veal pies may be made by this receipt, or by the second of those which follow. Slices of lean ham, or parboiled ox-tongue, may be added to them. 1 to 1-1/2 hour.
Notes
—