Mrs Beetons Poultry and Game Revisited
Chicken or Fowl Pie
2 Small Fowls or 1 Large One
285ml (½ pint) Water
Medium Puff Paste, or Good Short Crust
A Few Slices Ham
Forcemeat
3 Hard Boiled Eggs
1 Egg Yolk, beaten
½ tsp Grated Nutmeg
½ tsp Ground Mace
Salt and White Pepper, to taste
Skin and cut up the fowls into joints.
Put the neck, leg and backbones in a saucepan, with a little water, an onion, a bunch of savoury herbs and a blade of mace.
Allow to stew for about an hour and when done, strain the liquor and retain.
Put a layer of fowl at the bottom of a pie dish, then a layer of ham, then one of forcemeat and hard boiled eggs cut in rings.
Season each layer with ground mace, nutmeg, salt and pepper.
Continue until the dish is full and pour in about 285ml (½ pint) of water.
Border the edge of the dish with puff pastry, put on the cover, ornament the top and brush with the yolk.
Bake for 1¼ to 1½ hour, if the pie is very large
When cooked, pour in, at the top, the retained liquor.
If can be eaten cold if wished and is particularly nice, the joints of the fowls should be boned and placed in the dish with alternate layers of forcemeat.
Sausage meat may also be substituted for the forcemeat.
When the chickens are boned and mixed with sausage meat, the pie will take about 2 hours to bake.
It should be covered with a piece of paper when about half-done, to prevent the pastry from being dried up or scorched.
Time: For a pie with unboned meat, 1¼ to 1½ hour; with boned meat and sausage or forcemeat, 1½ to 2 hours.
Sufficient for 6 or 7 persons.
Seasonable at any time.
CHICKEN OR FOWL PIE
929. INGREDIENTS - 2 small fowls or 1 large one, white pepper and salt to taste, 1/2 teaspoonful of grated nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoonful of pounded mace, forcemeat No. 417, a few slices of ham, 3 hard-boiled eggs, 1/2 pint of water, puff crust.
Mode - Skin and cut up the fowls into joints, and put the neck, leg, and backbones in a stewpan, with a little water, an onion, a bunch of savoury herbs, and a blade of mace; let these stew for about an hour, and, when done, strain off the liquor: this is for gravy. Put a layer of fowl at the bottom of a pie-dish, then a layer of ham, then one of forcemeat and hard-boiled eggs cut in rings; between the layers put a seasoning of pounded mace, nutmeg, pepper, and salt. Proceed in this manner until the dish is full, and pour in about 1/2 pint of water; border the edge of the dish with puff crust, put on the cover, ornament the top, and glaze it by brushing over it the yolk of an egg. Bake from 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 hour, should the pie be very large, and, when done, pour in, at the top, the gravy made from the bones. If to be eaten cold, and wished particularly nice, the joints of the fowls should be boned, and placed in the dish with alternate layers of forcemeat; sausage-meat may also be substituted for the forcemeat, and is now very much used. When the chickens are boned, and mixed with sausage-meat, the pie will take about 2 hours to bake. It should be covered with a piece of paper when about half-done, to prevent the paste from being dried up or scorched.
Time - For a pie with unboned meat, 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 hour; with boned meat and sausage or forcemeat, 1-1/2 to 2 hours.
Average cost, with 2 fowls, 6s. 6d.
Sufficient for 6 or 7 persons.
Seasonable at any time.
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